St. Louis, MO
This afternoon, the Principia Panther Women's Tennis Team took on the Westminster College Blue Jays in the SLIAC Tournament Semi Finals. The Panther women dominated their regular season match up 9-0 and came out with the same tenacity as they jumped on top of the Blue Jays 3-0 after doubles play. Principia only needed two singles victories to earn a trip to the SLIAC Championship, and those victories came quickly from their top two singles spots, giving them the 5-0 win.
At 1
st doubles,
Paige Cooley and
Caitlin Carney started the match off trying to find their rhythm as they played a tough opponent. After being down 2-3, Cooley and Carney picked up their game and really started to play some solid doubles. They reeled off six straight games to take the match 8-3. At 2
nd doubles, Hanne Anderson and
Anh Vu jumped out the an early lead at the very beginning. Mixing in tough groundstrokes and strong volleys, Anderson and Vu had little trouble with their opponent as they cruised to the 8-1 win. At 3
rd doubles,
Justine Roy and
Lena Carlson played inspired doubles throughout. Roy and Carlson hit consistent deep groundstrokes to earn many of their points. Their constant pressure allowed them to dictate and win many of the points. They won by a score of 8-1.
At 1
st singles,
Paige Cooley took control of her match from the outset. Cooley's tough serve and hard groundstrokes made it tough on her opponent. She had little troubles as she earned the 6-0, 6-0 win. At 2
nd singles, Hanne Anderson also had very little with her opponent. Anderson was able to move her opponent all over the court, helping her earn many free points. After winning the first set 6-0, she had little trouble closing out the match, winning 6-0, 6-2. These two wins gave Principia the match victory 5-0.
The four remaining matches were all in progress, remaining unfinished as play was ended. At 3
rd singles,
Justine Roy was well on her way to the victory, as she was winning 6-1, 5-0. At 4
th singles,
Caitlin Carney started slow, but was starting to play more aggressively and finish points at the net. Carney was in the lead 4-3 as play was stopped. At 5
th singles,
Nathalie DeLoach was dictating play throughout as she had a 4-2 lead. Lastly, at 6
th singles,
Claire Horton was playing some of her strongest tennis of the season, and was up 6-1, 3-0.
The Principia Women's Tennis Team moves on to the SLIAC Championship to take on Webster University. Webster is the defending SLIAC Champions and defeated Principia earlier this regular season 5-4. The match will be played tomorrow at 2:30 PM at Kings Point Sports Club in Belleville, Illinois.
