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Concordia Outlasts Lopers to Reach Quarterfinals
05/13/2009
Concordia Outlasts Lopers to Reach Quarterfinals
NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Bracket
Altamonte Springs, FL - The Concordia College women's tennis team earned a dramatic 5-4 victory over the Lopers of the University of Nebraska-Kearney in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship Round of 16 this afternoon at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, FL. The Clippers are making their second appearance in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championships, with the previous appearance coming back in 1999.
The Clippers split the first two doubles points of the match as junior Cristina Oliveira (Port Allegre, Brazil) and freshman Maria Ortiz (Bogota, Columbia) defeated Callie Erickson and Marcelle Strydom 8-3 at No. 2 doubles and Nickola Messbarger and Mizuki Takahashi downed sophomore Adeline Brennan (Toms River, NJ) and junior Tita Kiss (Stamford, CT) at No. 3 doubles by an identical 8-3 score. The Lopers would take a 2-1 lead when seniors Somadi Druker (Capetown, South Africa) and Celise Sesanker (Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago) fell to Katie-Mary Outhwaite and Kristen Messbarger 8-6 at No. 1 doubles.
The Clippers climbed back into the match by taking No. 1 and No. 3 singles. Oliveira disposed of Outhwaite 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and Sesanker beat Strydom 6-0, 6-1 to give the Clippers a 3-2 lead.
Nebraska-Kearney would answer with a win at No. 4 singles by Erickson over Kiss by a score of 6-3, 6-2 and a win at No. 5 singles by Takahashi against Ortiz by a 6-4, 6-0 margin.
Down 4-3 in the race to five points, Brennan battled back from a first set loss to top N. Messbarger 5-6, 7-5, 6-4 at No. 6 singles. Druker won her first set 6-4 before falling in the second set 3-6 and went on to defeat K. Messbarger 7-6 in the third set to clinch the win for the Clippers.
The Clippers improve to 17-2 on the season, while the Lopers end their season with a 16-8 mark.
Concordia will take on the No. 6 ranked Wildcats of Abilene Christian University in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Quarterfinal Round on Thursday, May 14th. The Wildcats advanced from the Round of 16 with a 5-0 win over No. 25 ranked Drury University. First serve is set for 1:00 PM.
