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Concordia Box Score

Houghton Box Score

ORLANDO, Fla. (Mar. 2, 2020) – Shaking off a tough loss to begin its Spring trip, the North Central College men's tennis team bounced back nicely on Monday with a pair of wins at Sanlando Park, scoring a 7-2 win over Concordia College (Minnesota) in the opener before taking down Houghton College, 8-1 in the nightcap.

North Central (6-4) opened play against Concordia by taking two of three doubles matches, as Guillermo Gonzalez Fernandez and Javier Suarez Balsera teamed up to defeat David Youngs and Carter Steffes, 8-3 at the No. 2 position to begin the day.

Lucas Pindak and Justin Howes followed up with a 8-4 victory at the No. 3 position over Cole Gillespie and Eli Simonson, before the Cobbers (2-7) cut the score in half with a win at No. 1.

Heading into singles play with a slight advantage, Andy Hinch made quick work of Steffes in straight 6-1 sets at No. 4, before Steven Mears was equally as dominant in a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Jake Peters at the No. 6 spot to give the Cardinals some breathing room.

Holding a 4-1 lead, Gonzalez Fernandez was able to clinch the match win for the Cardinals, defeating Erik Porter in straight 6-3 sets at the No. 1 position.  With the match win intact, Colten Way overcame a 5-7 first set loss to complete a comeback 6-1, 10-4 win over Youngs at No. 3, before Suarez Balsera closed out the scoring in the opener with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jared Saue at No. 2.

In the second match of the day against Houghton (1-2), North Central once again jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles play, as Gonzalez Fernandez and Suarez Balsera once again got the scoring started with a decisive 8-1 win over Ethan Ung and Micah Schilke at the No. 2 spot.  The duo of Howes and Pindak then shut out Matthew Cicero and Micah Christensen, 8-0 at the No. 3 spot, before Houghton got on the board with a win at No. 1.

Singles play was all North Central, winning all six matches in straight sets, beginning with Mears at No. 5, shutting out Schilke in straight 6-0 sets, before Gonzalez Fernandez rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 final over Jake Fisher at the No. 1 spot.

Clinching the nightcap for North Central was Howes at the No. 6 position, defeating Christensen, 6-1, 6-1, while Hinch took care of Cicero in straight 6-2 sets at No. 4.  At the No. 3 position, Way needed little time to take down Yung in straight 6-1 sets at No. 3, ahead of Suarez Balsera who closed the day on a night note with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Dylan Sherer at the No. 2 position.

With a day off tomorrow, the Cardinals return to play on Wednesday, Mar. 4 with two more matches contested at Sanlando Park, beginning with Emerson College (Massachusetts) at 12 p.m. (ET) and ends their trip to Florida against NCAA Division I opponent Hampton University (Virginia) at 6 p.m. (ET). 
 
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