April 16, 2013 - A closely-fought battle on the tennis courts between two familiar rivals went down to the final match as Dominican University nipped Concordia University Chicago 5-4 in Northern Athletics Conference play.
The host Cougars got a leg up in doubles play. While the Stars won at first doubles, the Cougars prevailed at two and three. The second team of
Tim Staffeld (Hobart, IN/H.S.) and
Jose Landa (Round Lake, IL/H.S.) took down Alex Dee and Adrian Chavez 8-2. The battle at third was much closer, but
Patrick McIntosh (Tulsa, OK/Tulsa Memorial) and
Matt Gruenwald (Evansville, IN/Harrison) came out on top, 8-6 over Spencer Clark and Mohit Shekhar.
Dominican's first and second singles players won their matches, Kevin Amarantos 6-0 and 6-1 over
Clinton Bienz (Fort Wayne, IN/Concordia Lutheran) at first and Greg Tabaka 6-3 and 6-2 over Staffeld at second. However, the Cougars fought back at three and four.
Chayanne Martinez (Carpentersville, IL/Dundee-Crown) defeated Dee 6-1 and 6-0 at third, and Landa beat Clark 6-2 and 6-3 at fourth.
Chavez topped McIntosh 6-2 and 6-2 at fifth to tie the match at 4-4. The sixth singles match was the last one on the courts, and it went to Shekhar by 6-1, 6-0 scores over Gruenwald.
Concordia (3-3, 2-3 NAC) will travel to Wisconsin on Saturday for matches against the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Wisconsin Lutheran College.
