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Zach Zitur earned a singles and doubles victory at Hamline in the Cobbers' St. Paul weekend.
Zach Zitur earned a singles and doubles victory at Hamline in the Cobbers' St. Paul weekend.

So Close In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (4/12/15)—Concordia was inches away from its first conference win in two years but wound up losing twice over the weekend 5-4 at Hamline on Saturday and 7-2 at Macalester.

The Cobbers' match with the Pipers came down to the final singles bout of the day at No. 6 singles where Concordia junior Zach Biggar lost a classic, hard-fought 3-6, 7-5, 11-9 decision. Biggar was up 9-3 in the super-set tie-breaker and wasn'r able to come up with match point and lost in extra points.

Concordia (0-11/0-8 MIAC) won a lone double match against the Pipers and was 3-3 in singles play. The doubles tandem of Zach Zitur and Jesse Schneeberger claimed an 8-5 win at No.2 doubles which brought CC within one at 2-1 after the doubles competition.

Schneeberger would have a solid weekend for Concordia as he won both his singles matches and one of two doubles bouts.

Schneeberger recorded a straight set 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles which put CC on the brink of the league victory. Isaac Toivonen and Zitur also won singles matches against the Pipers. Toivonen, who like Schneeberger won both his singles matches for the weekend, earned a 6-3, 6-1 win at No.1 singles. Zitur followed that up with a 6-1, 6-1 straight set victory at No.2 singles.

On Sunday, the Cobbers lost all three doubles bouts to the Scots and then Schneeberger and Toivonen got Concordia on the board with singles wins.

Schneeberger won the first set in a tie-breaker 7-4 and then closed out the match with a 6-3 victory in the second set. He has now won three straight singles matches and is second on the team in singles wins.

Toivonen was the last player left on the court on Sunday as he battled into the super-set tie-breaker. He dropped the opening set 6-3 but then found his game in the second and won 6-4. Toivonen then used the strength of his teammates who stayed to cheer him on to pull out the 10-6 win in the super-set tie-breaker. Toivonen is now 5-6 on the year as the team's No.1 singles player and is 5-4 against MIAC opponents.

The Cobbers have two more chances to earn a victory in 2015. Concordia will face St. Cloud State at home on Saturday, Apr. 18 at 2:30 p.m. and then close out MIAC play when they host nationally-ranked Carleton on Sunday, Apr. 19 at 10 a.m.