Maggie Ramold | Sports Co-Editor

The Buena Vista University (BVU) men and women’s basketball teams open up Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) tournament play tonight as the 4th and 6th seeds respectively.

The BVU men will face 5th ranked Wartburg College in Storm Lake at Siebens Fieldhouse starting at 7 p.m., while the women travel to 3rd ranked Dubuque University also starting at 7 p.m.

This is the first time in two years that the women’s team has made the conference tournament, and the Beavers are excited to be back in the tournament.

“To prepare for the game, we have been working hard in practice, watching film, and preparing for what Dubuque is going to do offensively and defensively. We are just taking each game one at a time,” sophomore Jasmyn Flynn-Graves said.

When the women faced Dubuque earlier in the season the Beavers came up short 85-78 at home.

On the men’s side, the Beavers defeated Wartburg twice in the regular season, January 22 with a score of 79-67 and again on February 1 with a 79-62 win.

“We have virtually been preparing all season for this game, every practice and every game has been getting us ready for this game. We have worked hard the entire season and are prepared for the game,” junior Cole Darrow said.

Darrow is excited to see how the tournament plays out based on the crazy regular season the conference has had this year.

“We have to take it one game at a time and can’t look too far ahead into the future, so as of now, the goal is to get the win against Wartburg and then proceed from there,” Darrow said.

The winner of the women’s game will face Coe in Cedar Rapids, and the men’s winner will play at Central, both on Thursday night.