PELLA — Opening the American Rivers Conference season, the Central College women's tennis team was trimmed 5-4 by Coe College Saturday afternoon.
The Dutch (1-1, 0-1 conference) and the Kohawks (1-0, 1-0 conference) split the six singles matches evenly, but Coe took two out of three doubles matches to secure the team win.
"The team played really tough today, especially against a team of Coe's caliber," coach
Ryun Ferrell said. "We popped them in the jaw and didn't back down."
Alex Griggs (senior, Knoxville) was a 7-5, 6-4 winner in the No. 2 singles slot, starting her season 2-0. Central's No. 5 and 6 singles players,
Alli Krieder (junior, Norwalk) and
Ashlynn Brant (senior, Glidden, Carroll HS) also started the young season 2-0 with 6-2, 6-1 and 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 wins, respectively.
The only doubles point for the Dutch came from the No. 3 pairing of
Madi Whalen (freshman, Kansas City, Mo., Park Hill HS) and
Jenna Mitsuko Mahoney (freshman, Misawa, Japan, Robert D. Edgren HS) who won 8-4.
"Once we get our team a little older and wiser, we'll be a formidable force against anybody in the league," Ferrell said. "We just need to keep playing. The more we can play, the better we can get."
Central travels to Lincoln, Nebraska to play Nebraska Wesleyan University next Friday at 4 p.m.
