October 20, 2004

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Cornell College junior Marie Schutte (Boone, Iowa/Boone) has been selected IIAC women’s tennis Most Valuable Player and Loras College head coach Amy Zuelzke has been selected IIAC women’s tennis Coach of the Year. Both awards were voted by the Conference coaches following the Team Championship.

Schutte’s MVP honor is her second straight and the fifth straight for a Cornell player. This season, she won the #1 singles title at the Conference Individual Tournament and led the third-seeded Rams to a second-place finish at the Conference Team Tournament, its fifth top-2 Conference finish since 1997. She posted a 23-10 overall record, 9-3 in Conference play including 12-2 in singles (6-0 in IIAC) and 11-8 in doubles (3-3 in IIAC) with Emily Loewen.

Zuelzke completed her first season as Loras head coach leading the team to a fourth-place Conference finish. After dropping their first four matches, the Duhawks won five of their final seven regular season matches and entered the Conference Team Tournament as the #4-seed. After falling to eventual Champion Luther in the semifinals, Zuelzke’s team took #2-Central to the limit in the third-place match with the final two matches on the court going to a third-set super tie-breaker.

The Iowa Conference also announced today the 2004 women’s tennis All-Conference Team. The Team is based on performances at the Conference Individual Tournament. The four semifinalists at #1, #2 and #3 singles, the finalists at #4, #5 and #6 singles and #1 doubles, and the champions at #2 and #3 doubles are deemed All-Conference. All six singles players and two doubles teams from Conference Champion Luther garnered All-Conference recognition. Conference runner-up Cornell and third-place Central each had four singles All-Conference performers. Central also had two doubles teams earn All-Conference honors.

The complete 2004 Iowa Conference women’s tennis All-Conference Team is here.

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