Freshman Ben Swanson gets ready to make a return during his singles win against Macalester. Swanson earned his career conference win vs. the Scots.
Freshman Ben Swanson gets ready to make a return during his singles win against Macalester. Swanson earned his career conference win vs. the Scots.

Tie-Break Trouble

FARGO, N.D. (3/25/18)---A week ago Concordia was able to come up with key tie-break wins and pick up a crucial conference win. On Sunday, the tie-break table was turned as the Cobbers lost one doubles match and two singles bouts in the tie-breaker and fell 6-3 to Macalester.

The loss drops the Cobbers to 8-7 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Concordia is currently in a battle for the fifth, and final, spot in the conference spot. CC has two league matches remaining and has one more loss than St. Thomas who is currently in sixth place with a 2-3 record.

One of the key matches in the team battle came at No.3 doubles. After the teams had split the first two doubles bouts of the day, The Cobber duo of Jared Saue and Ben Swanson battled from behind their entire match and was finally able to push the match to a seven-point tie-breaker 8-8. Saue and Swanson fell behind in the middle of the tie-breaker and couldn't recover as they lost 7-5.

The Cobber No.2 doubles team of Erik Porter and David Schneck earned the team's lone doubles win. They got up early in their match and went on to post an 8-4 victory. The win is their team-leading 10th of the season and they are now 5-2 in conference play.

Senior Isaac Toivonen was able to overcome losing the first set in his match at No.1 singles and won in the super-set. He dropped a6-4 decision in the opener and then got a late break to win 7-5 in the second set. Toivonen was then down 8-6 in the super-set and rallied to win 11-9.

The victory for Toivonen was his team-leading ninth of the year and he now has 33 singles wins in his career.

Freshman Swanson grabbed the other singles win for Concordia. Like Toivonen, he lost 6-4 in the first set but then found his game and rebounded to win in the super-set. Swanson won 6-3 in the second set and then 10-5 in the super-set. The win was Swanson's first career conference victory.

The Cobbers dropped two singles matches in the super-set. David Youngs was on his game early as he won 6-3 in the first set at No.3 singles. His opponent then came back to win 7-5 in the second set and 10-7 in the super-set.

The theme of first-set win and then super-set loss continued at the No.4 singles bout where Saue claimed a 6-4 in the opener. Unfortunately he wasn't able to close out the bout and lost 7-6 (6) in the second set and then 10-4 in the super-set.
    
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will step out of conference play for their next match when they host Minn.-Morris on Tuesday, Apr. 3 at 3 p.m. The Cougars are 0-1 on the year and were picked to finish fifth in the UMAC this season.
 
Macalester 6, Concordia-M'head 3
Mar 25, 2018 at Fargo, N.D. (Courts Plus)

Singles competition
1. Isaac Toivonen (CC) def. Josh Doyle (MAC) 4-6, 7-5, 11-9
2. Sam Hochberger (MAC) def. Erik Porter (CC) 6-2, 6-1
3. Aidan Tirpack (MAC) def. David Youngs (CC) 3-6, 7-5, 10-7
4. Ben White (MAC) def. Jared Saue (CC) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 10-4
5. Matthew Yang (MAC) def. David Schneck (CC) 6-3, 6-3
6. Ben Swanson (CC) def. Peter Willenborg (MAC) 4-6, 6-3, 10-5

Doubles competition
1. Josh Doyle/Sam Hochberger (MAC) def. Isaac Toivonen/David Youngs (CC) 8-2
2. Erik Porter/David Schneck (CC) def. Aidan Tirpack/Ben White (MAC) 8-4
3. Matthew Yang/Ben Wilson (MAC) def. Jared Saue/Ben Swanson (CC) 9-8 (7-5)