The men’s tennis team’s match was cancelled this Saturday, April 24, due to rainy weather conditions. However, they did have a match on Thursday, April 22, against Cornell College. 

The Duhawks ended up losing with a final score of 1-8. The team’s captain, senior Joe Holguin, said that the Duhawks have had better years. 

“Last year we were able to beat them 5-4,” he said. 

Many first-years have been added to Cornell’s team, and Holguin thinks the fresh faces are a big reason for the team’s recent success. 

“This year they have improved a lot with much help from their incoming freshman class that make up for half their starting line-up,” Holguin said. 

The tennis team has had one match after another without much time for a breather. Just the day before the Cornell match, the Duhawks faced their neighborhood rival, University of Dubuque. 

“This may have affected the way we performed against Cornell,” Holguin said. “Our team was mentally prepared for Cornell, but after playing our rival UD the day before, we kind of felt physically fatigued.

“It is never a good strategy to focus on the game to come before playing the game at hand,” he continued to say. “As a team, we don’t focus on the negatives or the outcome of a match before it is over.” 

Although the team seems to be hitting a rough spot as far as wins go, Holguin is confident in the team’s ability and perseverance, and is happy to use the time off for rest. 

“The team, if anything, is a little tennis burnt out. After traveling across the Midwest and being in the van six hours for four weekends in a row, we feel the exhaustion from a long season,” he said. “This recent rainout over the weekend was a necessary break, and we feel as a team we will have a better showing this week.” 

And a better show they had indeed, when the team faced Rockford College on Tuesday and swept the meet, 9-0. 

“We felt confident about this match, and it was more like a good warmup for Wartburg and Coe,” Holguin said.

The canceled Wartburg meet was re-scheduled for a home meet today starting at 4 p.m. The Duhawks then will head back out onto the road again, traveling to Coe College on Friday.