April 27, 2011 - The Concordia men's tennis team played their final non-conference match of the season Wednesday afternoon as a tune-up for two important Northern Athletics Conference matches. The Cougars took to the indoor courts of the Res-Rec Center in Naperville to face off against North Central College. The host Cardinals prevailed by a 9-0 score, dropping the Cougars to 5-5 on the season.

Despite the final match score, some closely-contested battles were waged. In doubles play, the third team of Tim Staffeld (Hobart, IN/H.S.) and Vince Termini (Addison, IL/Addison Trail) came up just short by a 9-7 score against Adam Ciccone and Mason Sass.

Three of the singles matches featured exciting second sets. Nathan Wingfield (Greendale, WI/Martin Luther) lost the first set 6-3 to his second singles opponent Eric McKee but fought back to force a second set tiebreaker. Howver, McKee had a strong finish and pulled out the set by a 7-6 (6-0) score.

At third, Alex Tarullo (Berwyn, IL/Morton West) lost 6-2 to Boris Kampel in the first set before stepping up the pressure in the second set. Kampel hung on for a 7-5 win.

A similar result occurred at sixth where Andrew McKinley held off Termini 7-5 after a 6-0 first set.

The Cougars (5-2 NAC) are scheduled to play at Aurora University on Thursday afternoon. They will wrap up the regular-season schedule Saturday with a match at Rockford College.