CEDAR RAPIDS — A talented Coe College program presented the stiffest challenge yet for the Central College men's tennis team in a 9-0 Dutch defeat Saturday.

The winner of the last five Iowa Conference titles, Coe (14-4, 4-0 Iowa Conference) is the team that Central (4-12, 1-1) and the rest of the conference is chasing.

"We played tough and we played hard," coach Ryun Ferrell said. "Playing Coe gives us a measuring stick of where we want this program to be in the future.

"The biggest difference between them and us is that they didn't give us any free points. That's what we've got to work on and get better at. We can learn that from against really good teams like Coe."

Despite the loss, Ferrell is pleased with the progress his squad is making.

"We played better than we did last night," he said. "We played with a little less fear which is good.

The closest match of the night occurred at No. 4 singles where Tom Palmer (junior, Pella) dropped a 7-6, 6-0 match.

"He played great after finding his groove," Ferrell said. "It was a perfect storm in the sense that his opponent was a little inconsistent and Tom's a very consistent player. He was able to get on top in that first set and he had chances to win. He just ran out of gas in the second set."
           
A non-conference match Thursday at Grand View University is followed by a split-squad outing Saturday with matches at Buena Vista University and Morningside College.

"If we clean it up, we can take the next step and get ready for next week," Ferrell said.  Good things are on the horizon."