April 28, 2012 - It was "Late Night with the Concordia Cougars" as the men's tennis team hosted Aurora University and Rockford College in the final two matches of the Northern Athletics Conference regular season. The predicted inclement weather forced the matches indoors to the Oak Park Tennis and Fitness Center where play began at 5:30 p.m. and did not conclude until after midnight.
The Cougars lost 6-3 to Aurora but came back to defeat Rockford by a 6-3 final. Concordia finished 4-5 in conference play (4-8 overall), and their sixth place position will send them to Madison, Wisconsin on Monday afternoon to face third-seeded Edgewood College in the first round of the NAC team tournament.
Against Aurora, the Cougars started off well by earning two of the threes doubles points. Tim Staffeld (Hobart, IN/H.S.) and Vince Termini (Addison, IL/Addison Trail) defeated Anthony Emmanouil and Brett Wilder 8-4 at second. Chayanne Martinez (Carpentersville, IL/Dundee-Crown) and Luis Rivera (Franklin Park, IL/East Leyden) lost by the same score at third to Brian Koski and Connor Propp. However, Alex Tarullo (Berwyn, IL/Morton West) and Thien Van (Berwyn, IL/Morton West) seemingly swung the momentum to Concordia by pulling out a 9-7 win at first over Ricky Hernandez and Matt Butler.
The Spartans came out at the start of singles play and began to wrest control of the match away from the Cougars. Propp notched the first singles point for Aurora with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Adam Schoedel (St, Charles, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) at fifth. Emmanouil followed closely with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Martinez at fifth. Wilder edged Termini at fourth 7-6, 6-4 to continue the Spartans' momentum, and Hernandez gave Aurora the crucial fifth point with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win at first over Tarullo. Koski defeated Van 6-1, 5-7, 10-8 at second, but Staffeld gave the Cougars their third point of the match with a 1-6, 6-4, 10-5 win over Butler at third singles.
In the Rockford match, the Regents defaulted at sixth singles and third doubles. Concordia then split the other two doubles matches, taking a 3-1 lead in the match. Tarullo and Van lost 8-1 at first to Mladen Ubiparopovic and Matt Saelens, but Staffeld and Tarullo won 8-1 at second over Nathan Sweet and Trey Welch.
The Cougars claimed three of the remaining five singles matches for the victory. Tarullo defeated Saelens at second 6-0, 6-1 and Staffeld won consecutive 6-1 sets over Sweet at third. Termini prevailed at fourth over Sam Medina-Conchi 7-5, 6-0. Rockford won at first where Ubiparopovic beat Van 7-5, 6-1, and at fifth where Welch defeated Ron Roman (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Wesleyan Academy) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 at fifth.
