PELLA — As the regular season winds downs, the Central College men's tennis team picked up a pair of critical Iowa Conference victories over Loras College and the University of Dubuque by identical 6-3 margins Saturday.

The doubleheader sweep moves Central's season record to 8-14, but 5-2 in league matches.

Central was able to exit doubles matches with 2-1 leads each time as the No. 2 pairing of Garret Taylor (junior, Creston) and Danny Anderson (freshman, Boone) and the No. 3 pairing of Sam Dykstra (sophomore, Pella) and Tom Palmer (junior, Pella) both went 2-0.
           
"You tend to feel pretty confident about getting three singles matches," coach Ryun Ferrell said. "Your odds of winning goes up when you get at least two."

In the No. 6 singles slot, Scott Wilson (junior, Urbandale) won four of his five sets 6-0. He stumbled in the opening set against Dubuque before roaring back for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-0 victory and swept his Loras opponent 60, 6-0.

"He wasn't playing the smartest tennis," Ferrell said. "After the first set, I gave him a new strategy and he started executing it right away."
Jacob Logan (junior, Bettendorf) and CJ Cliff (junior, Decorah) also were undefeated in singles play Saturday at No. 2 and No. 5 singles, respectively.

"Jacob moved better than he has in a while," Ferrell said. "He's like a hockey goalie; it's hard to get the ball by him. CJ was aggressive and going after people. He did really well."

With a win next Thursday at Simpson College in the regular season finale, Central would clinch the No. 3 seed in the league tournament slated for May 5-6.