February 23, 2025
Weekend Split Earns Youngs First College Victory
FARGO, N.D. (2/23/25)---Concordia was back in action after a 2-week break and posted a split in its home non-conference/conference weekend doubleheader.
The Cobbers used their depth to cruise past Bethany Lutheran 7-0 on Saturday and then dropped a hard-fought MIAC match-up against Bethel on Sunday.
The win over the Vikings on Saturday gave first-year head coach David Youngs his first collegiate victory.
Concordia 7, Bethany Lutheran 0
Youngs scrambled the lineup card for the opening match of the weekend against Bethany Lutheran and the Cobbers made it pay off.
Concordia only dropped five games in the six contested matches. The No.1 doubles team of Ryoga Yano and Isaac Maddock set the tone by rolling to a 6-0 victory. Hunter Rice and Santiago Buisan followed suit by coming away with a 6-2 win at No.2 doubles.
The four singles matches were all maroon and gold. Youngs inserted Logan Sandberg into the No.1 spot and Sandberg finished off his opponent in straight sets (6-2,6-0). Junior Kai Pierce moved to No.2 singles and only lost one game. He won 6-0 in the opening set and brought the match home with a 6-0 victory in set No.2.
Daniel Skrade and Alex Laho closed out the match with a couple of double bagel specials at No.3 and No.4 singles.
Concordia 2, Bethel 7
The final team score in the Cobbers' conference bout with Bethel wasn't indicative of how close the match was. Concordia lost one doubles match by the smallest margin and were on the wrong end of two singles matches that were decided in the super-set tie-breaker.
Sophomore Kai Kringlie led the Cobber charge against the Royals. He earned the lone wins in doubles and singles play.
Kringlie teamed with Sandberg to come away with an 8-4 victory at No.2 doubles. The victory was the duos first of the season.
Yano and Maddock had one of the closest, most dramatic matches of the day and narrowly lost 8-6 at No.1 doubles to a team that earned MIAC All-Conference honors last year and featured the MIAC Rookie of the Year award winner.
Kringlie carried over the momentum from his doubles win to edge out his opponent in the super-set at No.5 singles. He opened the match with a 6-3 win, dropped the second set by identical score before rallying in the tie-breaker to win 10-5.
Maddock and Sandberg kept the crowd on the edges of their seats in their matches at No.2 and No.3 singles. Both players lost in the super-set.
The closet match of the day belonged to Maddock who lost in extra points in the tie-breaker to a 2024 All-Conference honoree. He lost the first set 7-5 but rebounded to win 7-5 in the second set which set the stage for an epic super-set where he lost 11-9.
Sandberg nearly came back from a 1-0 deficit in his match at No.3 singles. He lost 6-4 in the opener, won 6-4 in set No.2 only to fall 10-4 in the tie-breaker.
Concordia will have an 8-day break before returning to action on its annual spring training trip to Florida. The Cobbers will play four matches from Mar. 3-6.