Weekend Of UMAC Sweeps

FARGO, N.D. (2/25/19)---It was a weekend of UMAC sweeps for the Cobbers. Concordia won its first match of the season by sweeping Crown on Saturday and then got swept by St. Scholastica on Sunday. Both non-conference opponents compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC).

The Cobbers started the weekend with a dominating sweep over Crown. Concordia only lost four games in the three doubles matches and then backed that up by only dropping nine games in the six singles bouts.

The 9-0 sweep over the Storm was the first sweep for Concordia since the 2012 season.

Lisa Neumann, Lexi Johnson and Brianna Bell led the singles sweep by posting straight set 6-0, 6-0 victories. Neumann earned her second singles win of the year at No.2 singles while Bell matched her season win total with a victory at No.5 singles. Johnson recorded her first win of the season with her double bagel at No.4 singles.

No.1 singles player Jenna Forknell claimed her second win of the year with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Josie Beachy and Abby Westrum made it a clean sweep in singles play. Beach recorded a 6-4, 6-3 win at No.3 singles while Westrum earned her first collegiate victory with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No.6 singles.

The Cobbers had a pair of 8-0 wins in doubles play. Beachy and Johnson teamed together to claim the shutout at No.2 doubles and Neumann was paired with Rachel Saxen and the tandem won 8-0 in the No.3 position.

Forknell and Ivy Mattson won their first doubles match of the year together with an 8-4 decision at No.1 doubles.

Sunday's match was a different story as the Cobbers dropped several very close matches and fell 9-0 to St. Scholastica. Concordia had won doubles bout and a singles match go to a tie-breaker but came out on the wrong end of the score in both bouts.

Bell and Saxen got the call at No.3 doubles and lost a heartbreaker as the match went into the tie-breaker after the game scored was deadlocked at 7-7. Bell and Saxen finally lost 7-4 in the tie-breaker.

The other two doubles matches were also close with CC doubles tandems losing by 8-3 scores.

Neumann lost the closest singles bout of the afternoon. She won her first set 7-5 at No.2 singles but then dropped the second at 6-2. She then fell 10-6 in the super-set tie-breaker.

UP NEXT: Concordia will hit the road for an away conference match followed by five contests in Florida on the annual spring break training trip. The Cobber will start their week-long break by playing at Macalester on Friday, Mar. 1 at 6:30 p.m.   

Concordia-M'head 9, Crown College 0
Feb 23, 2019 at Fargo, N.D. (Courts Plus)

Singles competition
1. Jenna Forknell (CC) def. Sierra Allison (CROWN) 6-0, 6-1
2. Lisa Neumann (CC) def. Abby Engrav (CROWN) 6-0, 6-0
3. Josie Beachy (CC) def. Cortney Gunderson (CROWN) 6-4, 6-3
4. Lexi Johnson (CC) def. Nahomie Konzi (CROWN) 6-0, 6-0
5. Brianna Bell (CC) def. Abby Yates (CROWN) 6-0, 6-0
6. Abby Westrum (CC) def. Marina Ortiz (CROWN) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Jenna Forknell/Ivy Mattson (CC) def. Sierra Allison/Abby Engrav (CROWN) 8-4
2. Josie Beachy/Lexi Johnson (CC) def. Cortney Gunderson/Nahomie Konzi (CROWN) 8-0
3. Lisa Neumann/Rachel Saxen (CC) def. Abby Yates/Emily Eischens (CROWN) 8-0