Loras - It was a dreary day, and the temperature felt more like the end of November than the beginning of October.

The Duhawks’ latest opponent,

Wartburg, made sure the day stayed dreary for the Duhawks, beating Loras convincingly, 8-1.

The lone win came from the No. 2  doubles team of juniors Alisha Espey and Breann Billiet.

In what was supposed to be the second part of a doubleheader against Cornell, Mother Nature intervened. The rain drove the players inside and postponed the match until Wednesday.

Nonetheless, even with the loss to Wartburg, all indications point to the women making their first Iowa Conference Team Tournament since 2004.

Loras now sits in fifth place in the conference with two league matches left. The Duhawks need to beat either the University of Dubuque or Cornell this week to avoid any sort of tiebreaker situation. So, the team’s season-long goal of reaching the conference tournament is well within its grasp.

To the seniors on the team — Lindsay Dunkirk, Brenda Beckers, Kady Homewood, and Christie Runde — such an  achievement would be particularly special.

The final brackets have now been released and the Duhawks are slated to play Wartburg College tonight in Iowa City at the IIAC team championship.