Regular season tennis finale goes awry for Central women
Central Dutch Athletics
WAVERLY — Despite leaping out to a 2-1 lead through the doubles portion of the match, the Central College women’s tennis team could not hang on in a 5-4 defeat against Coe College Saturday.
It was the regular season finale for Central (8-5, 5-3 conference). Pending results of other teams in the next few days, Central will finish in fourth place.
“We had plenty of opportunities to win the match in singles,” coach Ryun Ferrell said. “We played pretty well, but Coe came out on the other side of it.”
Playing competitively together for the first time, Sarah Schirm (freshman, Cedar Rapids, Xavier HS) and Kirsten Jordan (senior, Clear Lake) were victorious 8-6 at No. 3.
“We lose Katie Larson (freshman, Fort Madison) to an injury at the end of practice yesterday,” We knew Kirsten could play Katie’s side. We were excited to see them play so well.”
The No. 2 doubles tandem of Laurynn Mize (sophomore, Sycamore, Ill.) and Maddie Hartley (freshman, Clarinda) earned their sixth win of the year 8-4.
“That’s the best doubles match they’ve played all year,” Ferrell said. “They looked amazing from beginning to end.”
Mize had a 6-4, 7-5 victory at No. 3 singles while Schirm had a 6- 4, 7-6 (4) triumph in the No. 4 spot.
“Sarah played great,” Ferrell said. “Her singles opponent was a high school teammate so she was pretty excited for that match.’
The Dutch will be in Ankeny next weekend for the American Rivers Conference Individual Championships.
“We’re approaching it with a little bit of a different philosophy,” Ferrell said. “We’ve put some more people in the A-Flight because they want a shot at making the all-conference team. We’re trying to end the year on a fun note more than anything.”
