Central Women Fall to Truman State in Tennis
With the regular season winding down, the Central College women’s tennis team dropped its final home match of the season Wednesday night against Truman State University 8-1.
The Dutch (6-11) fell to the NCAA Division II Bulldogs (11-9) for the second time this season, having lost by the same score on September 28.
Central’s point came from the No. 6 singles match as Becca Vala had a 6-1, 6-1 victory. The Dutch had two other singles matches go into the super breaker. Madi Whalen fell 6-0, 7-6, 11-9 at No. 2 and Jenna Mitsuko Mahoney lost 7-6, 5-7, 16-14 at No. 4
Central has one final non-conference match at Augustana College (Ill.) on Saturday at noon before an American Rivers Conference quarterfinal Tuesday at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Seven Central Players Tabbed for NFF Hampshire Society
Seven Central College seniors were added to the school’s state-leading number of National Football Foundation Hampshire Society members Wednesday.
The Hampshire Society, in its 17th year, recognizes senior football players who are starters or significant reserves and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher. The Dutch have 138 honorees in the past 15 years, the most in Iowa. A program-high 17 were cited in 2011-12.
Nationwide, 1,734 players from 328 schools were recognized this year. Central’s seven honorees are the most of any American Rivers Conference school. Wartburg College had six honorees, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Loras College each had five and the University of Dubuque had one. The seniors selected helped lead Central to its 32nd conference championship in 2021, along with program’s 22nd NCAA Division III playoff berth. The Dutch were 7-3 last fall.
The Hampshire Honor Society is a component of the National Football Foundation’s efforts to promote combined athletic and academic success. The NFF’s National Scholar-Athlete Awards program, launched in 1959, was the first to credit a player for academic success, football performance and community leadership.
| Central’s 2021-22 honorees: | |||
| Name (hometown/high school) | Position | GPA | Major |
| Benjamin Crist (Elizabeth, Ill./River Ridge) | CB | 3.36 | Engineering |
| Ian Den Herder (Mesa, Ariz./Desert Ridge) | C | 3.50 | Kinesiology |
| Jeff Herbers (Urbandale/Des Moines Christian) | WR | 3.97 | Actuarial Science |
| Jason Hopp (Earlham/Earlham) | RB | 3.37 | Athletic Training |
| Nathan Rahn (Chadwick, Ill./Milledgeville) | LB | 3.39 | Business Management |
| Gregory Ricketts (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Township) | LB | 3.69 | Economics |
| Jacob Sharp (Phoenix, Ariz./Phoenix Christian) | OG | 3.23 | Biology/Kinesiology |