La Habra, CA – In their second match of spring break, the Principia Men's Tennis Team took on the Hope International Royals. Playing against an NAIA team brought out some quality play from many of the Panther players. Although the final score was 8-1 in favor of Hope International, it was not indicative of the high level of play from many of the Panther players.
At 1
st doubles,
Greg Sovie and
Brody Swan started slow and were unable to find their way back into the match after the slow start. They played many excellent points, but too many unforced errors proved to be their demise as they fell 8-2. At 3
rd doubles,
Dan Wagstaff and
Peter Griswold had some well played points, but like 1
st doubles, were unable to put string enough points together to win games. They fell 8-0. The doubles match of the day came from
Jules Kitchingman and
Nat Kenworthy at 2
nd doubles. After falling behind 6-3, Kitchingman and Kenworthy battled back to tie the match at 6-6. The next game proved to be the decisive game as Kitchingman and Kenworthy had 2 break points to go up 7-6, but were unfortunately unable to convert. In the end, 2
nd doubles fell 8-6.
Like in their first match of spring break, the Panthers came out in singles and battled hard. At 1
st singles,
Greg Sovie fought all match long. Sovie was tied at 3-3 in the first set, but his opponent raised his level of play and took the set 6-3. Sovie was unable to find his rhythm as the match wore on and fell 6-3, 6-1. At 3
rd singles,
Nat Kenworthy played well throughout. However, after many long rallies, Kenworthy fell 6-3, 6-1.
At 4
th singles,
Brody Swan engaged in hard fought rallies throughout the match. Despite being down, Swan never let that influence his demeanor or play. Although he lost 6-1, 6-2, the final score was not indicative of his play. At 5
th singles,
Dan Wagstaff had multiple game points within his match, but was unable to break through to win a game as he fell 6-0, 6-0. At 6
th singles,
Peter Griswold refused to go down easily today. He continually put the ball in play and forced his opponent to beat him. In the ned, Griswold fell 6-2, 6-2.
The match of the day came from
Jules Kitchingman at 2
nd singles. Kitchingman played with confidence and with skill and speed. He frustrated his opponent with his consistency and marched his way to an easy victory. He won 6-0, Ret after his opponent retired from the match after the first set.
The Panthers have their final match of spring break tomorrow at 3:00 PM (PST) against Concordia University Irvine. The match will be played at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center in Costa Mesa, CA.
