Tennis Season Preview
by Chris Johnstone
The Concordia University, Nebraska Tennis program swung into action with a 6-4 loss to Baker University (Kansas) on Feb. 9 inside Walz Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs are coming off of a 10-12 overall record in the 2017 season, going 2-3 in the GPAC for fourth place in the conference.
Fourth year head coach Joel Reckewey has brought in a number of newcomers to the program. Jerry Berryman from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Sao Paulo, Brazil native Giovanni Bordghi Camacho De Moraes, and Jonathtan Keith from Brownstown, Indiana. All-conference player Javier Moreno and all-conference honorable mention Gabe Poling have exhausted their eligibility as seniors.
Junior Thomas Greeff returns to the top of the starting lineup at the number one spot because of the Bulldogs’ victory over Kansas Wesleyan in Kansas back on Sep. 7, 2017.
“We have a lot of new faces in the starting lineup,” said South African native Thomas Greeff. “We have been competing better at all positions on the team. We have seen a huge improvement on our doubles compared to past seasons.”
The Bulldogs play a total of 18 regular season games in the spring semester and look to improve on the 10-12 overall record from last season.
On the women’s side, Concordia finished 9-13 overall last season and tied for fourth in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, going 3-4.
Head coach Joel Reckewey’s squad will see a number of key players return including freshman Ansley Gates, Woodbury, Minnesota native Allison Marshall, freshman Claudia Viera and Fort Morgan, Colorado native Cora Rhode.
“Both (the) men and women’s teams have a more cohesive unit than in the past. I see this as a team that will only be improving and moving forward as the season progresses,” said Greeff.
Concordia also welcomes Graduate Assistant Coach Nikita Kostikov who graduated from Alcorn State and was on their Men’s Tennis team all four years.
The core group of the team, including seniors Annie Horn and Allison Bell as well as juniors Kayla Smock and Katelinn Wurm all are looking to have a breakout year for the team as the Bulldogs excelled in doubles last season, going 6-0 over opponents in and out of conference play.