Elsah, IL

The Principia Men's Tennis Team took on conference rival Westminster College in the Panthers second SLIAC match of the season. It was the first beautiful outdoor match date of the year, and the Panthers took full advantage of the weather in defeating Westminster 7-2. This moved the Panthers to 2-0 in SLIAC play, positioning them for the first seed for the conference tournament.

At 1st doubles, Jason Wissman and Joey Sander played against a determined team, and were unable to gain the upper hand in their match. Despite being in the lead for most of the end of the match, they were unable to get the break of serve they needed to close it out. They lost 9-8 (4) in the tiebreaker. At 2nd doubles, Nate Waters and Kenny Sydness came out hot early, taking a 4-0 lead with aggressive net play. Although their opponents started playing better, they were able to calmly close out the match, winning 8-4. At 3rd doubles, Andrew Rohrer and Aaron Switzer started out slowly, but began to play really well by the middle part of their match. They dominated the net, forcing their opponent into tough defensive positions. They won 8-3.

At 1st singles, Jason Wissman came out on fire taking his first set 6-0. In the second set, he fell behind 1-4, but was able to battle back, reeling off five straight games to finish the match with a 6-0, 6-4 victory. At 2nd singles, Joey Sander had no trouble with his opponent. Sander's steady play kept his opponent off balance as he won 6-0, 6-2. At 3rd singles, Nate Waters played some steady tennis to go up 5-2 in the first set. However, very quickly it was 6-6 and they were headed to the tiebreaker. Waters took a 5-0 lead and was able to finish him off at 7-6 (5) in the tiebreaker. He then cruised to the second set victory 6-0.

At 4th singles, Andrew Rohrer was unable to find his rhythm on his groundstrokes after he played an excellent doubles match. His opponent was very steady, and Rohrer lost 6-1, 6-1. At 5th singles, Daniel Drake controlled the match throughout with his solid play from the baseline. He had no trouble in defeating his opponent 6-2, 6-3. At 6th singles, Kenny Sydness played an excellent mix of defensive and offensive tennis that enabled him to frustrate his opponent. He came away with a 7-5, 6-0 victory.

Principia's next match is April 8th against Lewis and Clark. This match will be played here at Principia College at 5:00 PM.

                            Principia College    Westminster        Winner        Score

1st Doubles        Jason Wissman    Alec Belden            West            9-8 (4)

                           Joey Sander        Tyler Wollmershauser

2nd Doubles        Nate Waters        Nate Connell            Prin            8-4

                            Kenny Sydness    Justin Wollmershauser

3rd Doubles        Aaron Switzer    Kyle Collins                Prin            8-3

                            Andrew Rohrer    Scott Strough

1st Singles        Jason Wissman    Tyler Wollmershauser Prin         6-0, 6-4

2nd Singles        Joey Sander        Alec Belden        Prin                  6-0, 6-2

3rd Singles        Nate Waters        Nate Connell        Prin                7-6 (5), 6-0

4th Singles        Andrew Rohrer    Kyle Collins        West                 6-1, 6-1

5th Singles        Daniel Drake        Justin Wollmershauser Prin        6-2, 6-3

6th Singles        Kenny Sydness    Scott Strough    Prin                    7-5, 6-0