The only teams without a blemish on their American Rivers Conference records faced each other this afternoon in Pella, Iowa. Host Central College entered the match with a league mark of 6-0 while Luther was 5-0. After sweeping doubles 3-0, the Norse proceeded to win fix of six singles matches en route to an 8-1 victory.

Lexi Hastings and Emily Rubbelke put the first point on the board for the Norse defeating Katie Larson and Sarah Schirm at No. 3 doubles (8-2), Shelby Cook and Natalia Smith followed with an (8-4) win at No. 1 over Alyssa Lewton and Maddie Hartley. Ana Olimpio and Sofia Sackett gave the Norse a 3-0 advantage defeating Bronwyn Metcalf and Jennifer Larson at No. 2 (8-4).

All five of Luther's singles victories were in straight sets. Renata Martinez and Olimpio posted the first two singles points that secured the victory for the Norse. Martinez won at No. 5 (6-1, 6-0) and Olimpio followed at No. 4 (6-3, 6-1). Montserrat Ramirez-Mainou was next with a (6-3, 6-1) victory over Brianna Larson at No. 6. Sofia Sacket at No. 3 won (6-3, 6-2) and Cook at No. 1 won (6-3, 7-5). Natalia Smith lost a hard fought three-set tie breaker at No. 2 (4-6, 6-1, 7-10) to Lewton.

The win was the 28th consecutive victory over a league opponent dating back to Oct. 7, 2018. The Norse are now 7-2 overall.

Complete Results (pdf)

Luther has multiple matches scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 9. The individuals on the trip to Central and Simpson, will play at Simpson tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. This group will also play an exhibition match against Iowa Central Community College at 1:00 p.m.

At home, the other half of the team will host Upper Iowa University at 8:45 a.m. and St. Ambrose University at 3:15 p.m.