Pasadena, CA - Today marked the first match for Principia men's tennis on their spring break in Los Angeles, California. They took on the 13th ranked team in the west region in Cal Tech. Despite not pulling out the victory, the Panthers improved as the day went on and competed well.
At 1st doubles,
Joey Sander and
Nate Waters started out their match very slow, falling behind 5-0. However, the eventually found their rhythm and started to play much better. They cut the lead to 6-3, but made it no closer as they fell 8-4. At 2nd doubles,
Jason Wissman and
Daniel Drake had their moments, but in the end, their opponents were too steady. They fell 8-4. At 3rd doubles,
Andrew Rohrer and
Nicholas Flanders played well throughout their match. They remained on serve until it was 7-6, but unfortunately were unable to hold serve, falling 8-6. This was this duos best match of the year, and they will look to build on this in future matches.
Despite being down 3-0 at the end of doubles, the Panthers regrouped well for singles. At 3rd singles,
Nate Waters played very well throughout his match. In the 2nd set Waters battled back and saved four match points before falling in a very close match, 6-4, 6-4. At 4th singles,
Daniel Drake started slow, but was able to regroup well in the 2nd set. Unfortunately, he was unable to come away with the victory, losing 6-1, 6-4. At 5th singles,
Andrew Rohrer battled throughout his match, but could not string enough points together to make it a closer match, succumbing 6-3, 6-1. At 6th singles,
Nicholas Flanders played a great first set. Using his consistent deep groundstrokes to put pressure on his opponent. However, Flanders was unable to keep up this level of play, ultimately falling 3-6, 6-1, 10-0.Â
The two wins for the Panthers came from the 1st and 2nd singles spots. At 1st singles,
Jason Wissman lost his first set, but started quickly in the 2nd set. Wissman wore down his opponent with his penetrating groundstrokes and his ability to finish at the net. Wissman was down 4-5 in the 2nd set, but quickly turned the match around, reeling off the final 3 games to win 7-5. In the 3rd set tiebreaker, he was able to continue this momentum and put his opponent away with a 1-6, 7-5, 10-7 victory. At 2nd singles,
Joey Sander played a steady brand of tennis with limited errors and strong net play. Sander frustrated his opponent throughout the match, winning with a score of 6-4, 6-4.
The Panthers next match is on Thursday, March 12th at Biola University. They will be looking to build on this match and come away with a victory!
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Principia                Â
Cal Tech                Â
Winner    Â
Score1st Doubles
Joey Sander     vs Rushikesh Pathireddy Cal Tech     8-4
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Nate Waters        Sathwick Pathireddy
2nd Doubles
Jason Wissman vs Rushikesh Joshi     Cal Tech    8-4
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Daniel Drake          Morgan Lebby
3rd Doubles
Andrew Rohrer vs    Alexander Henry     Cal Tech    8-6
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Nicholas Flanders   Ishan Mehta
1st Singles
Jason Wissman  vs   Rushikesh Pathireddy Principia 1-6, 7-5, 10-7
2nd Singles
Joey Sander   vs    Rushikesh Joshi         Principia   7-5, 6-4
3rd Singles
Nate Waters    vs     Sathwick Pathireddy   Cal Tech   6-4, 6-4
4th Singles
Daniel Drake     vs     Morgan Lebby             Cal Tech  6-1, 6-4
5th Singles
Andrew Rohrer  vs     Alexander Henry         Cal Tech   6-3, 6-1
6th Singles Nick Flanders     vs    Zachary Lipel              Cal Tech  3-6, 6-1, 10-0
Exh. Singles
Vernon West     vs   Fabio Arai                   Cal Tech     8-5
Exh. Singles
Mason Switzer  vs   Leonardo Zornberg    Cal Tech     8-2
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