River Forest, Ill. – This Friday marks the beginning of the spring slate of the 2022-2023 season for the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) men's tennis team as they travel to Prairie State College. The Cougars are looking to rebound from a tough 2022, where they finished 0-9 in last season's spring slate and 0-3 in September to start this season's split schedule.
Returning Players
The Cougars will bring back a majority of their roster from 2021-2022, including seniors
Scott Engler (New Palestine, Ind.),
Caleb Gustafson (Merrill, Wis.),
Kevin Januska (Bolingbrook, Ill.), and
Alan Martinez (Northlake, Ill.). Engler appeared in nine matches. Gustafson also appeared nine matches with one singles win and one doubles win. Januska appeared in eight matches and Martinez appeared in six matches with one singles win.
Also returning is sophomore
Joshua Wright (Danville, Ill.), he appeared in nine matches last season and led the team with two singles wins and one doubles win.
Newcomers
The Cougars brought in four freshman,
Joshua Gustafson,
Reynaldo Leal,
Diego Loveshe (Franklin Park, Ill.), and
Nathan Stringer. These four have already gotten their first collegiate experience, as they all appeared in at least one of the three matches in the fall season. They will look to build upon that experience this spring.
Coach Lenno Lasn
This is
Lenno Lasn's second season at the helm of the CUC men's tennis program. When asked about this upcoming season, Lasn said, "I am looking forward to the start of our spring season. I am excited to see our four freshman get into action. It will be a challenging season, but we have a great group of men and they are working hard."
A Look at the Season
The Cougars start the season on the road, first traveling to Prairie State College on February 10, then to North Central College on February 25, and finish with a neutral site match against Illinois Tech to start NACC play. The home opener will be on March 18 as the Cougars welcome Wisconsin Lutheran to CUC Courts. The conference schedule continues as the Cougars host St. Norbert and Milwaukee School of Engineering on March 19 and April 1, respectively. The rest of the season will be on the road as CUC travels to Marian on April 2, Edgewood on April 15, then finally to Concordia Wisconsin and Lakeland on April 16.
First serve is at 4:45 p.m. on Friday, February 10 at Prairie State College. Coverage for everything CUC men's tennis can be found at cucougars.com.
