April 6, 2013 - The Concordia men's tennis team came back from a three-week hiatus today to open Northern Athletics Conference play on the home courts. The day did not begin well as they lost 7-2 to Edgewood College, but the Cougars bounced back in the afternoon with an 8-1 win over Marian University.

Concordia dropped all three doubles matches against Edgewood, although the third doubles team of Patrick McIntosh (Tulsa, OK/Tulsa Memorial) and Matt Gruenwald (Evansville, IN/Harrison) put up a good fight before going down by an 8-6 score to Ben Pratscher and Michael Janusek. The Cougars got their points from Tim Staffeld (Hobart, IN/H.S.) at second singles, 6-0 and 6-3 over Eric Gavinski, and from Gruenwald at sixth singles, 4-6, 6-4 and 10-7 over Janusek.

In the Marian match, the first doubles team of Clinton Bienz (Fort Wayne, IN/Concordia Lutheran) and Chayanne Martinez (Carpentersville, IL/Dundee-Crown) edged Rob Ogden and Andrew Bales by an 8-6 score. Staffeld and Jose Landa (Round Lake, IL/H.S.) prevailed at second, 8-3 over Elan Solvik and Sam Maetzold. The Sabres defaulted at third doubles, giving the home team a 3-0 lead in the match.

Concordia won singles two through five with another default win at sixth. Staffeld won 6-1 and 6-3 over Solvik at second. Martinez topped Bales at third by 6-1, 6-2 scores. McIntosh went to three sets to beat Maetzold at fourth, 6-4, 4-6 and 10-8. Niko Verceletto (Babylon, NY/West Babylon) made his season debut, winning at fifth 6-0, 6-0 over Josh Heup.

The Cougars (2-1, 1-1 NAC) return to action next Saturday with conference road matches at Aurora University and Rockford College.