April 13, 2023 – In its final regular season match of the 2022-23 season, the Loras College women's tennis team nearly swept its way past Cornell College with an 8-1 win at the Tucker Tennis Courts.

The Duhawks (13-6) swept the doubles matches and nearly took all six singles matches over the Rams (10-11), as the only loss on the day for Loras came in a tiebreaker.

With doubles wins of 8-5, 8-4, and 8-4, Loras headed to singles play up 3-0 as the top two Duhawks kept things rolling. After winning a double pairing, seniors Isabel Schwabe and Lauren Diiulio each won their singles matches in straight sets. Schwabe prevailed 6-1, 6-1 over Makayla Johnson at No. 1 as Diiulio won 6-2, 6-3 over Wies Kleingeld at No. 2, making them the first two singles matches to finish up on the afternoon.

The best action of the day came at the No. 3 and No. 4 singles as Cornell's Audrey Small just narrowly snuck out a win over Duhawk senior Sara Backus at threes. Small won 7-5 in set one as Backus forced a tiebreaker in the second set, but just a couple more bounces when the way of the Rams as Small took the set 7-6 (7-4) in a tiebreaker.

At fours, Loras sophomore Leia Papanicholas engaged in a battle with Cornell's Kylie Jacobson. Papanicholas took the first set 6-4, but couldn't hold off Jacobson's late charge in set two as the Rams No. 4 took the set 7-6 (7-4) in a tiebreaker. In the 10-point tiebreaker set, Papanicholas fended off the upset and took the set 10-5.

No. 5 and No. 6 singles were each competitive in their own right, but Loras managed to sneak past with sweeps in both matches. Sophomore Caroline Hutchinson took the fives match 7-5, 6-3 as sophomore Dorothy Deans won 7-5, 6-2 to improve her season record to 5-0 at the No. 6 position.

The Duawks will begin postseason play next Tuesday, April 18 in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament. Fifth-seeded Loras will play at fourth-seeded Wartburg College in the first round, with the winner moving on to face top-seeded Luther College on Thursday.