DECORAH — The Central College women's tennis fell 8-1 at the hands of the Iowa Conference regular season champions from Luther College Sunday afternoon.

 Playing its third match in two days, the Dutch (7-3, 5-3 Iowa Conference) did just about everything but win against the Norse (10-1, 8-0 Iowa Conference) according to Coach Ryun Ferrell.

"If a few things break our way, we could've beat that team," he said. "The exciting thing about our team is that everyone in our varsity lineup is back next season. The future is bright for Central tennis."

The lone individual win for Central came at the top of the singles lineup as Ashley Maley (junior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) topped Jackie Cychosz 1-6, 6-4 (11-9)

"That was one of the best matches we've ever seen Ashley play," Ferrell said. "Ashley settled down after the first match and really found her rhythm. It was nice to see Ashley get that victory."

Central's No. 5 and No. 6 singles players were each able to push their matches to a tie-breaking third set but were edged by slim margins. Kirsten Jordan (sophomore, Clear Lake)lost 7-6 (6-4), 4-6 (10-4) at No. 5 and Cheyenne Powell (sophomore, Nacogdoches, Texas)fell 0-6, 6-4 (11-9) at the No. 6 spot.

The final competition of the fall season is set for this Friday and Saturday in Waterloo for the Iowa Conference Individual Championships. Ferrell is excited for the opportunity, but is ready to give his team a mental and physical break after a long weekend of tennis.

"The first thing we need to do is get them some rest," he said. "We need to prepare them the right way for this weekend by taking our foot way off the gas for a few days. We have been playing some tough tennis this season. Hopefully, we can keep that up this weekend."