Nick Rohner April 24, 2008

Central takes third in conference

CEDAR RAPIDS—For the sixth time in seven seasons, the Central College men’s tennis team came away with a third-place finish at the Iowa Conference tournament.

First-year coach Bryan Mours’ squad defeated Wartburg for the third time this season, 5-1 in the opening round, before falling to second-seeded Coe College 5-0 in the semifinals. The Dutch rebounded in the third-place match, traveling to nearby Mount Vernon and scoring a 5-0 win over Cornell College. The matches were all played indoors because of rain.

Mours was impressed with his players’ effort against Coe despite the 5-0 score, noting that Central was making some noise in the unfinished matches.

“I thought everybody performed up to their capability,” Mours said. “It was great to see them compete against a high-caliber team like Coe and stand toe-to-toe with them.

“Obviously we would have liked to qualify for nationals, but the guys really stepped onto the court with a purpose and fought hard,” he said.

The Dutch close with a 13-13 dual record after enduring a daunting schedule.

Feddersen seeded third—The season concludes with the Iowa Conference individual tourney Friday and Saturday in Cedar Rapids.

The singles tourney is divided into three flights with Feddersen seeded third in the 29-man A bracket. Also competing in the top flight are Chris Bliss (senior, Ottumwa), Luke Boyd (sophomore, Fort Dodge) and Dan Bowser (freshman, Fort Dodge). Central has seven players in the 32-man B flight and one in the 32-man C flight with Justin Scherff (senior, Denison) seeded fifth in the B flight.

Feddersen gets a first-round bye before taking on the winner of an opening match between Luther’s Samriddh Burman and Benji Gault of Coe. Burman played No. 2 singles for Luther in a match at Central April 18.

“Jared’s got a challenging match but if he can win, that gets him to the quarterfinals and would make him all-conference,” Mours said. “That would be a great way to cap a wonderful career.”

In the doubles tourney, Feddersen and Boyd are seeded fourth in the 16-team A flight. Bliss and Scherff are also in the top bracket. Bowser and Nick Rohner (senior, Wichita, Kan., Kapaun Mount Carmel HS) are seeded No. 1 in the 16-team B flight with Jacob Dreyer (freshman, Cedar Falls) and Joel Druvenga (junior, Spencer) seeded fifth. Two other Central duos are in the B flight.

Mours brought Central’s entire 12-man roster to the tourney.

“That’s something I promise,” he said. “We will take everybody to the conference tournament, no matter what spot you play during the season. You’ll get to play in the tournament and have a chance to call yourself a conference champion.”