DALLAS, Texas – On the heels of a historic calendar year, the Concordia Texas men’s tennis team enters the 2023-24 season with a wave of momentum. The Tornados kick off the spring campaign this Friday where they will host Texas Lutheran. Concordia Texas was predicted to finish first in the American Southwest Conference’s west division as this marks the second consecutive year that CTX was the preseason favorite to win the west. They also picked up all nine first-place votes, which is the first time ever in program history.
Overall, the Tornados bring back five of their All-ASC members from the 2022-23 season, which includes Esteban Arredondo, Daniel Beckles, Joshua Bode, Joeri Bregman and Adrian Munguia. Adding to the Concordia’s depth will be a pair of freshmen in Chase Scholz and Kishan Kersten.
Scholz shined in his first collegiate action last fall. The Houston native almost made it an all-CTX finals at the ITA Regionals with Bode as he battled to the semifinals of the singles championship.
Kersten also shined at the ITA Regionals where he and Arredondo made it to the final four of doubles play in their first action as a pairing.
Click here to view the full ASC preview.
The Tornados will hit the ground rolling following their match against TLU on Friday as they will immediately turn around and travel to Brownwood to take on Howard Payne this Saturday at 2pm. Following a two-week hiatus, the men’s team will travel to San Antonio for a matchup with Trinity on February 16th and then another road match in Houston at St. Thomas on the 17th.
The following week, CTX will enjoy the friendly confines of home by hosting eight straight matches. They will first host Schreiner on the 23rd and LeTourneau on the 24th before taking on Covenant College (Ga.) in a match at Southwestern University on February 29th.
Moving into the month of March, Concordia will face off with ETBU on the 2nd, before hosting Carnegie Mellon University four days later. They will then host Rhodes College on March 11th, before taking on Wesleyan College at Southwestern on March 15th. Capping off the home stand, CTX will host Amherst College on March 18th.
The Tornados will then kick off ASC divisional play where they will travel to Abilene to play McMurry on March 23rd. Immediately afterwards on the same day, Concordia will play Sul Ross State (who is no longer considered a divisional opponent). CTX will end non-conference play up the road at Southwestern on April 3rd.
Heading back into divisional play, the Tornados will host Hardin-Simmons in their final regular season home match on April 6th. They will then hit the road for Austin College on April 13th and UT Dallas on April 14th. The following week on April 20th, Concordia will polish off the regular season at UMHB. The 2024 ASC Men’s Tennis Championship will be held May 2-4 at the site hosted by the No. 1 Seed in the West Division. The top three seeds from each division qualify for the tournament with a single elimination format.
Click here to view the 2024 schedule.
2024 ASC Men’s Tennis Preseason Poll East Division
Rank Team (1st place votes) Pts. 2023 Record (ASC)
EAST DIVISION
1. UT Dallas (9) 45 8-7 (4-0)
2. East Texas Baptist 35 10-10 (3-1)
3. Ozarks 24 9-9 (2-2)
4. LeTourneau 20 4-10 (1-3)
5. Howard Payne 11 1-13 (0-4)
WEST DIVISION
Rank Team (1st place votes) Pts. 2023 Record (ASC)
1. Concordia Texas (9) 36 17-5 (3-1)
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor 23 13-6 (2-2)
3. Hardin-Simmons 21 12-7 (4-0)
4. McMurry 10 6-12 (1-3)
$ – Sul Ross State – 0-10 (0-5)
$ – Ineligible for ASC and NCAA Championships
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the CTX men’s tennis program, follow us on social media (@ctxathletics) and visit athletics.concordia.edu.