Tough Back-To-Back Road Doubleheader
Concordia lost to St. Thomas and Gustavus in a tough conference road doubleheader weekend.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (2/28/16)—Concordia lost 8-1 at St. Thomas to finish off its conference road doubleheader weekend.
The loss, coupled with a 9-0 defeat at No.18-ranked Gustavus on Saturday, drops the Cobbers' overall season record to 1-5. CC is now 1-4 in conference play. The Tommies advance to 2-2 in all matches and 2-1 in the MIAC while the Gusties remain unbeaten on the year at 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the conference.
Concordia's lone win of the weekend came on Sunday at the No.3 singles play where Zach Zitur fought his way to a 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 victory. Zitur closed out the match by holding his serve at 6-5.
The win was Zitur's third of the conference season. He leads the team in victories in MIAC play. He posted a super-set tie-breaker win in the season opener against Hamline and then grabbed a straight set 6-1, 6-1 win over the No.3 player for Bethel.
Zitur is also 3-3 in all matches this season which is one more than he had in all of last season. Zitur's high water mark for wins in a single season is seven when he went 7-9 in his freshman season in 2013.
Zitur also had the closest singles match on Saturday against Gustavus. He dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision against Mitch Elofson who is 13-2 on the year and unbeaten in league matches.
The other tight match for the Cobbers against the Tommies came at No.2 singles where David Schneck lost in the tie-breaker in the first set 7-6 (7-5) and couldn't come up with a break in the second and lost 6-3.
In doubles play, the tandem of Zitur and Matthew Engum lost 8-5 at No.2 doubles.
On Saturday Jesse Schneeberger battled in his match at No.4 singles with former Moorhead Spud Gabe Steinwand but wound up falling 6-4 in the second set after losing 6-0 in the opener.
Concordia No.1 singles player Isaac Toivonen ran into a pair of tough opponents. He fell 6-0, 6-2 to Mohanad Alhouni of Gustavus who is currently ranked first in the Central Region and fourth in all of Division III. On Sunday he was tripped up by Luke Elifson who earned All-MIAC honors last year. Toivonen is now 3-3 on the season.
Concordia will have a break from conference play next weekend when they travel to Duluth to take on St. Scholastica on Sunday, Mar. 6 at 11 a.m.