Central women's tennis team falls in two matches

Gano and Blom pick up wins for the Dutch

by Peter Leithauser

Pella, IA (04/14/2025) — PELLA- The Central College women's tennis team lost both of its matches on Saturday.

In the opening match of the day the Dutch battled for a tough 4-3 loss against Cornell College. In the second match they lost 7-0 against a high-powered University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire squad.

In the match against Cornell, Central earned the doubles point. At No. 2 Becca Vala (senior, Omaha, Neb., Elkhorn HS) and Jenna Mitsuko Mahoney (junior, Misawa, Japan, Robert D. Edgren HS) won 7-2 in a tiebreak and Madi Whalen (junior, Kansas City, Mo., Park Hill HS) and Keleigh Hall (senior, Keokuk) won 6-2 at No. 3.

"It is always a battle when we play Cornell," said coach Ryun Ferrell. "We earned the doubles point which is good because we work hard on that. We took another step, and we are even more ready to play Loras College in the conference tournament."

In the singles matches the Dutch were only able to win at No. 4 singles when Lauren Gano (sophomore, Johnston) won 6-3, 6-2 and Emily Blom (freshman, Pella) won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 6.

In the final match of the day the Dutch lost the doubles point winning four games across the three sets. In the singles matches they were only able to scratch across 11 games in the 12 sets.

"Wis.-Eau Claire is really good; they are in a three-way tie in their league." Ferrell said. "The team played hard and had fun; I was really pleased with the effort that was put up by our women.

The Dutch will return to the courts when they host Truman State University Wednesday at 4 p.m. in their final match before the American Rivers Conference tournament.

Rebecca

Vala