DECORAH — The Central College men's tennis team was ousted 9-0 by the regionally-ranked side from Luther College Sunday afternoon in Iowa Conference play.

The loss dropped the Dutch to 2-2 in league matches and 5-14 overall. Luther, ranked No. 16 regionally, moved to 15-4 (5-0 conference).

Coach Ryun Ferrell said, who has been battling illness and did not make the trip to Decorah, said that even the Luther coach said the score was deceiving.

"He said that our guys battled really hard," Ferrell said. "And that the score didn't show how tough of a match it was."

Ferrell cited an unlikely source to his team this past week about perseverance.

"I showed the team a scene from 'A League of Their Own' when Tom Hanks is talking to Geena Davis," he said. "He's reminding his team that it's supposed to be hard because if it was easy everyone could do it. The hard is what makes you great."

At No. 2 singles, Jacob Logan (junior, Bettendorf) started off with a 6-4 win in the opening set. Unable to hang on to the lead, he dropped the match 4-6, 6-2, 10-4.

"He's had it tough moving up from No. 3," Ferrell said. "He's learning that every single week he has to show up and be mentally ready. He's starting to break through."

Garret Taylor (junior, Creston) also was able to take a set at No. 1 singles, before losing 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

The narrowest margin in doubles came from Pella natives Tom Palmer (junior) and Sam Dykstra (sophomore) at No. 3, taking an 8-4 loss.
Central returns home for the first time in three weeks to host Wartburg Saturday morning at 10 a.m

"They're essentially the same team as last year while we're quite a bit different," Ferrell said. "It's probably going to be a typical Central vs. Wartburg match. I'm glad it's at home."