A Successful Southern Swing On Opening Weekend

WAVERLY, IOWA (9/14/25)---Concordia opened the 2025-26 season by traveling south to Iowa to compete in the Loras Invite on Saturday and then face Wartburg and Grand View in dual meets on Sunday.

Concordia started its opening weekend by playing multiple matches against the University of Dubuque and host Loras.

"I was extremely impressed with hour our guys competed all weekend after just a week of practice," head coach David Youngs said. "After sitting in a van for 8 hours and starting play 45 minutes later, our team came out fighting and capitalized on the things within their control. I was especially proud of how we competed against Wartburg. They're a quality opponent and our guys played dominant tennis from the start."     

The Cobbers went 8-2 in matches against Dubuque and 8-8 against Loras.

First-year players Niklas Cook, Momin Durrani and Ryan Bitz collected their first collegiate wins, while Kai Pierce went 2-0 in both singles and doubles play.     

The Cobbers finished off the weekend by splitting their dual matches. Concordia started the day by beating host Wartburg 5-2 and then fell to Grand View by a similar score.

Concordia opened Sunday by getting the doubles point as they posted tie-breaker wins at No.1 and No.3 doubles. Ryoga Yano and Isaac Maddock at No.1 and Pierce and Hunter Rice both won their matches by 7-6 (8-6) scores to give CC a 1-0 lead heading into single play.

The four point getters in doubles play then earned singles wins to give the Cobbers the 5-2 decision – and all four won in straight sets. Yano claimed a 7-5, 6-2 win at No.1 singles. Maddock followed with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No.2 singles. Pierce won the team bout with a 6-4, 6-0 win at No.4 singles and then Rice needed a tie-breaker in the second set to record the 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory.

Concordia wasn't able to match their success in the second bout of the day. Grand View turned the table and won two doubles matches and then four singles bouts.

The lone doubles win for the Cobber came courtesy of Yano and Rice at No.2 doubles. They claimed a 6-4 win to run their record on the day to 2-0.

Logan Sandberg and Bitz were the lone singles winners for CC. Sandberg won in the super-set tie-breaker. He dropped the first set but then rallied tp win 7-5 in the second set and 10-6 in the tie-breaker. Bitz rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 straight-set win in his first collegiate singles match.

Concordia will continue with its fall season when they face Crown on Friday, Sept. 19.