16 The Lorian May 7, 2015 Sports

Thankscoachs corner

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Ryan GRahamsports editor

Well folks, its been real. Right now, youre reading the last words Ill ever write for this paper. Unless youre not, in which case Im not talking to you.

Two years ago, I was a sh#thead. I was your typical 19-year-old college student

broke, angsty and drunk most of the time. I had no idea who I was or what I wanted to do with my life. Then I started writing for the Lorian.

For the first time in my life, Id found something that Im good at. I became a writer that became my identity. I went from sportswriter at the Lorian to sports editor. I did freelance writing for the Telegraph Herald and worked my way into a part-time position. I started a blog and terrorized local businesses. None of this wouldve been possible if it wasnt for arguably the best student-run newspaper on campus.

I have a lot of people to thank [oh Jesus, here we go], but Ill try to keep it interesting. If you want to stop reading and save yourself the sappiness, look, I totally understand. You should probably be doing something productive right now, anyway. Theres only two weeks left, you gotta buckle down! Call your parents, too. Be honest, whens the last time you talked to them? Would it kill you to check in once in a while?

First, I want to thank Tim Manning, our moderator, for showing me the ropes and always vouching for me. Without your help, I wouldnt have gotten to where I am today in the field of journalism. I want to thank Drew, my assistant, for all the hard work hes put in this year. I have no doubts that the sports section will continue to thrive under your reign as Supreme Leader. I want to thank Mary and Colin for giving me the opportunity to serve as the sports editor, and for all the work they did to keep the paper afloat in times of peril. I want to thank Hannah, our copy editor, for always knowing which swear words Im not allowed to use, and also for buying me a sandwich that one time.

I want to thank all the coaches and players who have suppressed their inner Marshawn Lynch to give us quotes over the years. Thanks to Jim Naprstek and the sports information department for everything theyve done for us. To my writers and photographers, thank you for all the hard work youve put in. Without you, I wouldve had to write all the articles and take all the pictures myself, which wouldve been a real bummer.

Thanks to my parents, for suppressing the urge to punch me in the face; to my friends, who hang out with me for some reason; to my professors, for not failing me when lets be honest; and to my girlfriend, Abby, for whatever it is that you do.

I want to thank all those random people whove gone out of their way to compliment me on my writing over the years. I know that I typically get all weird and just kind of stand there awkwardly because I dont know what to say, but I truly do appreciate it. Lastly, I want to give a special thank you to everyone whod be offended if I left them off this list. Its your insatiable need for affirmation and false sense of entitlement that truly inspires me on a daily basis.

Oh, and I cant forget to thank God, our Lord and savior, for giving billions of people a false sense of security. I want to thank Satan for creating Rock & Roll; Adolf Hitler for his contributions to art; and Taylor Swift, for ruining an entire generation of women. To all the women whove had sex with me, thanks that was very nice of you. I want to thank Johannes Gutenberg for inventing the printing press; Sean from the cafe; my haterz; the lizard overlords that run the top-echelons of our government; and finally, I want give an extra special thank you to my MOI professor, who told me I wouldnt last more than a semester at Loras.

Ill see you at graduation. Drop the mic, Im out.

womens tennis

photo by maddy coleSenior pitcher Adam Schwoebel leads the sixth-seeded Duhawks into the Iowa Conference Tournament. The Duhawks will take on Central in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.

The real season beginsLoras (19-20, 13-15 IIAC) is swept by Central, drops to 6th seed as Iowa Conference Tournament begins today

by Katie truesdale | sportswriterComing into last weekends games, six

Iowa Conference schools knew theyd be competing in the Iowa Conference Tour-nament. While the field of teams may have been set, the seeding was a totally differ-ent story.

Wartburg and Coe knew theyd be locked into the one and two spots, but the four remaining teams Central, Buena Vista, Luther and Loras came into the weekend separated by only a handful of games. Regardless of what happened last weekend, each game would have huge implications on the conference seedings going into the tournament.

The Duhawks took on Central Friday and Saturday to wrap up their regular season. The Duhawks split their series with the Buena Vista Beavers earlier in the week, but struggled in each of their games against the Dutch.

Despite a solid performance by senior pitcher Adam Schwoebel, the Duhawks fell in Game 1, 1-0. Schwoebel pitched six in-nings and struck out three, but a sac-fly by Central in the bottom of the sixth proved to be the difference. Loras batters man-aged only four hits in the game.

The Duhawks defense struggled in

Game 2, committing five errors that led to two unearned runs. Senior pitcher Will Petrosky took the loss, despite striking out six through six innings. Loras scored two runs in the top of the eighth, but their rally fell short, as Central took the second game, 5-4.

It was deja-vu for the Duhawks on Sat-urday. Loras dropped Game 3 in extra innings, 1-0, despite a memorable per-formance from junior Alex Steines, who pitched nine scoreless innings and struck out 11 before yielding the winning run on a controversial balk call. The bats were cold once again for the Duhawks, who recorded only one hit in the game.

Just as they did in Game 2, the Dutch took the final game of the series, 5-4, to sweep the series and drop Loras into the sixth seed. The Duhawks were betrayed by their defense once again, as a throwing error following a sacrifice bunt allowed the walk-off run to score in the bottom of the eighth.

Thursday marks the opening of the Iowa Conference Tournament for the Du-hawks.

Were coming in with a sense of urgen-cy against Central because of last season and how we played this past weekend, said Walsh. We know were a better team that can perform way better than we did this past series.

This time last season, the Duhawks opened the Iowa Conference Tournament with a 5-4 win over Simpson, but fell to the Buena Vista Beavers 6-1. They then

eliminated Simpson with a 12-1 win before Central ended the Duhawks season with a 7-2 win in the semifinals.

We know that these games mean way more than the regular season, said Walsh. But we arent putting any extra pressure on ourselves. We know we are fully capa-ble of beating every team and we just need to have fun this weekend.

The Duhawks will head to Cedar Rap-ids for their opening game on the Centrals home field, Veterans Memorial Stadium. Opening pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.

We just need to have fun and play our game and we will be successful, said ju-nior Patrick Walsh.

iowa conference tournament(At Cedar Rapids Perfect Game Field at

Veterans Memorial Stadium & Daniels Park)Todays gamesGame 1 No. 4 Buena Vista vs. No. 5 Luther, 1 p.m. (at Daniels Park)Game 2 No. 3 Central vs. No. 6 Loras, 1 p.m. (at Vets)Game 3 No. 2 Coe vs. Game 2 winner, 4 p.m.Game 4 No. 1 Wartburg vs. Game 1 winner, 7 p.m.Fridays gamesGame 5 Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 10 a.m. (elimi-nation game)Game 6 Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 1 p.m.Game 7 Game 5 winner vs. lower-seeded loser of Games 3 & 4*, 4 p.m.Game 8 Game 7 winner vs. higher-seeded loser of Games 3 & 4*, 7 p.m.Saturdays gamesGame 9 Game 8 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 10 a.m.Game 10 Game 6 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 1 p.m.ChampionshipGame 11 Game 10 winner vs. Game 10 loser (if first loss), 4 p.m.* If one of the Game 3/4 losers has already had a bye, they will automatically play in Game 7 regardless of seed.

Follow Loras playoff run on Duhawks.com.

Duhawks get served up an early exitDuhawks, Stubben out after first-round loss to Central

by drew Brashaw | sports editorThe spring season

came to an end last week for the womens tennis team, with the Duhawks falling to the Central Dutch in the first round of the Iowa Conference tournament, 5-1. The Duhawks finish their

2014-15 season with a record of 7-10, including

a 3-4 mark in Iowa Conference competition.The loss also marks the end of Karl Stub-

bens tenure as head coach of the Duhawks, as hell be replaced next month after a de-cade at the helm.

Assuming the position of head coach for the mens and womens teams next season will be Chad Fenwick, as announced by Di-rector of Athletics Denise Udelhofen.

I am excited for Chad to join our ath-letic staff, Udelhofen said in a statement posted on Duhawks.com. He has a prov-en history of success with both mens and womens tennis programs, which starts with recruiting quality student-athletes.

Fenwick comes to Loras most recently from Ashford University, where he led the mens and womens tennis squads since the 2010-11 season, and was named the 2013 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Region Womens Tennis Coach of the Year. Prior to his stint at Ashford, Fen-wick made head coaching stops at Upper Iowa University (2006-10) and the Univer-sity of Dubuque (2000-02).

In his five seasons as head coach for Ash-ford, Fenwick earned an overall record of 97-46-1, and his teams went 15-1 (mens) and 12-5 (womens) this year. Hell become Loras first-ever combined mens and wom-ens tennis coach when he officially takes the programs reins on June 1.

Im really excited to have the opportuni-

ty to lead the Loras Tennis program, Fen-wick told Duhawks.com. I believe that both the mens and womens programs have po-tential to be successful. I am looking forward to working with the Loras student-athletes with the hopes of building both programs into Iowa Conference contenders.

Chad Fenwick

central 5, loras 1(Iowa Conference Tournament, first round

Thursday, April 24)Singles competition1. Angie Allgood (C) vs. Elizabeth Dickhut (L) 3-2, UF2. Kari Grindberg (C) vs. Jessica Dickhut (L) 2-5, UF3. Ashley Maley (C) def. Kylie DeWees (L) 6-0, 6-14. Anna Bowser (C) def. Caroline Rainey (L) 6-2, 6-25. Paige Vannausdle (C) def. Sam Pietruszynski (L) 6-1, 6-36. Ashlyn Huegel (C) vs. Ayla Graziano (L) 6-2, 5-2, UFDoubles competition1. Angie Allgood/Ashlyn Huegel (C) def. Elizabeth Dickhut/Jessica Dickhut (L) 8-52. Kari Grindberg/Anna Bowser (C) def. Kylie DeWees/Sam Pietruszynski (L) 8-53. Caroline Rainey/Maggie Clements (L) def. Ashley Maley/Morgan Ernst (C) 8-2