Terre Haute, IN. -- Principia Men's Tennis met their first formidable opponent of the early season and came up empty handed earning 0 of 9 match points in the dual. Rose-Hulman in their first match of the spring season took the Panthers by surprise with their power and consistency, pushing the team to their limit and taking advantage of Principia's loss of rhythm. Despite the clean sweep, Principia's netters found some encouragement in their strong performances. However, the sun shined brighter for Rose Hulman on every key point, ultimately converting nearly all advantage points after many returns to deuce. "What was most rewarding," Coach Jones said, "was the quality of tennis we displayed against such a deeply talented group of athletes." Over the last 3 years, Rose-Hulman has been conference champions, and has earned the AQ birth into the NCAA National Tournament, last year advancing as far as the 3
rd round, defeating the extremely talented Wheaton team.
Today served as a measuring rod for the Panthers, who in their own right won the SLIAC conference tournament the last 3 years. Coach Jones continues, "The challenge now going forward is to take what we can from this loss and turn it into the proper motivation to nurture our competitive spirit and rise again to meet the next challenging matches ahead in our schedule."
Inside the Box Scores: Principia Panthers vs. Rose-Hulman Engineers
Doubles: (Winning names in bold)
1st Team: Wyatt Dale /
Greg Sovie vs.
Ian Landwehr /Austin Perry 8-3
2nd Team: Jules Kitchingman/Nathanael Kenworthy vs.
Cam Metzger/Andres Adam 8-1
3rd Team: Brody Swan/
Peter Griswold vs.
Brendan Goldacker/Andrew Schiffman 8-2
Singles: (winning names in bold)
- Wyatt Dale vs. Ian Landwehr, 6-0, 6-0
- Jules Kitchingman vs. Cam Metzger, 6-1, 6-1
- Greg Sovie vs. Andre Adam, 6-3, 6-3
- Nathanael Kenworthy vs. Austin Perry, 6-3, 6-4
- Brody Swan vs. Andrew Schiffman, 6-2, 6-3
- Dan Wagstaff vs. Brendan Goldacker, 6-2, 6-1
- Peter Griswold vs. Ben Strate (singles exhibition)
News and Notes:
Four matches today shone brightly with opportunities to come away with match points, but fell short because of Rose Hulman's resolve in crucial moments: #1 Doubles, #3, #4, and #5 Singles. There is so much to be proud of across the board of all matches, but these four kept fingernails biting until their end games.
Up Next:
The Panthers meet in a Tri match up versus Simpson College and Illinois Wesleyan next Saturday February 24
th, at home in Hexberg Tennis Center.
Please come out and support the team!
