Earning a berth into its first Iowa Conference Team Tournament since 2004, the women’s tennis team wanted to defy their No. 6 seed in the postseason clash and make some waves.

But Loras knew it wouldn’t be easy. Four of the other five teams in the postseason tournament had routed the Duhawks during the regular season.

Competing for the Duhawks in singles play were were senior Lindsay Dunkirk, sophomore Ale Ruales, junior Alisha Espey, first-year Katharine Mack, junior Breann Billiet and senior Kady Homewood. Dunkirk and Ruales teamed up to compete in doubles, and Espey and Billiet comprised the No. 2 doubles team. Mack teamed up with first-year Sarah Dickhut to form the No. 3 doubles team.

In the first round of the tourney, the Duhawks took to the courts Friday night in Iowa City to face the No. 3 seed, Wartburg, which beat Loras 8-1 earlier in the year. Much like the first time the Duhawks squared off against the Knights, the weather was a distraction. This time, Wartburg won the first final five matches, then the final four matches were called off.

“(The loss to Wartburg) was definitely a bummer because we all know our potential and we could have performed better, but at the same time Wartburg is a very solid program and we knew they were going to be ready to go — and that they were,” said Homewood, who, despite being a senior, was participating in collegiate competition for the first time this year.

With that loss, the Duhawks moved across in the bracket to the fifth-place match against the No. 5 seed, Central, which had swept Loras during the regular season. But the Duhawks had other ideas and played the Dutch tough.

The No. 2 pair of Espey and Billiet gutted out a tough 9-8 win to start the Duhawks off right. Espey then followed up the grueling doubles match with a win in her singles match, 6-2, 6-4. The doubles team of Mack and Dickhut also won their doubles match, 8-6.

However, Central won the other five contests to win the match.

“Earlier this season, we lost 0-9 to Central, and to come back last Saturday with a score of 3-5 was not too shabby,” Homewood said. “Central is a very strong program and it was very close; everyone performed well.”

The Duhawks finished the season with a 7-11-1 record, 4-5-1 in conference play. However, this year’s team recorded the most conference wins by the program since 2003. Homewood thinks the team is headed in the right direction and will perform even better next year.

“I think it’s safe to say we made a lot of improvements this year and we should be very proud of ourselves,” Homewood added. “It’s a cool feeling to know how hard we worked and to see it pay off.”

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.

Loras-Before the Homecoming celebrations began Saturday morning, the women’s tennis team took to the courts against conference foe, Luther College, looking for a big win against a tough Norse team.

Fittingly, the day was foggy, and there was not a whole lot of sunshine to be found for the Duhawks on the courts either. The Norse beat the Duhawks, who saw their Iowa Conference record fall to 3-3, and they are 6-7 overall.

Coach Karl Stubben was pleased, however, with the heart that his team showed.

“They did a good job making life difficult for them (Luther). They may not have won, but they didn’t stop” he said.

The Duhawks will host Upper Iowa University today. Stubben looks at this match as an opportunity for the team to test themselves against the Division II Peacocks.

He believes that these types of matches help a team really see where they stand. He believes this year’s team should be ready to compete with UIU.

Loras also will host its next conference match Saturday against Wartburg. If the Duhawks prevail, this match would go a long way in cementing the Duhawks place in the conference tournament.

“The seniors are especially fired up for these final conference matches,” Stubben said, “They are looking to make one last conference tournament push.”

Lindsey Hefel

After a hot start to the season in which it won six of its first eight matches, including a 9-0 sweep of cross-town rival University of Dubuque, the women’s tennis team found itself looking at a gauntlet of tough competition over the past week.

Looking to rebound after a couple of tough losses, the Duhawks traveled to Coe College for a tussle on the courts, IIAC-style, looking to pluck the Kohawks. The trip would not turn out the way Loras envisioned and it found itself in a dogfight with a very tough Coe team. The same scenario played out in another road trip against Simpson, also an Iowa Conference opponent. The Duhawks lost both matches and saw their record fall to 6-6 overall and 3-2 in conference.

This brings the young Duhawks to the middle of their conference season, and their goal of qualifying as a team for the Iowa Conference Tournament is still very much alive. Standing fifth in the standings, the Duhawks need to maintain a sixth-place-or-better finish to qualify as a team.

This means that this weekend’s matchup again Luther College has added significance. Luther currently sits second in the conference standings, and a win against the Norse would go a long way in solidifying the team’s place in the standings.

The time between the Coe and Luther matches is seen as crucial.

“We are keeping up our hard work in practice, focusing in doubles strategy especially in volleys,” said sophomore player Alejandra Ruales.

After the Luther match, the Duhawks will be gunning for four other conference foes that likely will determine whether the young team can qualify for the conference tournament.