Elsah, ILL. -- Principia Men's Tennis met Illinois College tonight at Hexberg Tennis Center. The Blue Men, coached by Andrew Bartelmo, arrived ready to compete with the Panthers. Doubles matches started the dual with Principia coming out on top earning all 3 doubles points the pairings. In singles, Illinois' top man, junior Miguel Vaca, one of the Midwest's region's top players, faced freshman,
Wyatt Dale for the first time. Without question the match between Dale and Vaca would be a heated battle; the gritty veteran Vaca pitted against the untested newcomer. Their match didn't disappoint. Vaca showed why he has a respected reputation around the central region, hitting laser like precision shots to spots on the court that would put away most contenders. But to Vaca's surprise, his precision was met with equal measure by Dale, and both men found themselves in a dual that was fraught with excitement, minimal momentum shifts, and small margins for victory. That victory resulted in a 6-4, 6-4 win for
Wyatt Dale, in his second collegiate competition, with each player exchanging gestures of respect for one another across the net at the match's conclusion. The momentum from Dale's match carried forward to the rest of the singles matches, with the Panthers clinching the remaining 5 singles points to foster a clean sweep of the Illinois Blue 9 to 0.
Inside the Box Scores: Principia Panthers vs. Illinois College Blue
Doubles: (Winning scores in bold)
1st Team: Wyatt Dale / Greg Sovie vs. Michael Connelly/Cameron Doerr
8-1
2nd Team: Jules Kitchingman/Nathanael Kenworthy vs. Rolando Salazar/Jacob McQueen
8-0
3rd Team: Brody Swan/Dan Wagstaff vs. Connor McAndrew/Joe Mendala
8-0
Singles: (winning matches in bold)
- Wyatt Dale vs. Miguel Vaca 6-4, 6-4
- Jules Kitchingman vs. Michael Connelly, 6-0, 6-2
- Greg Sovie vs. Cameron Doerr, 6-0, 6-1
- Nathanael Kenworthy vs. Rolando Salazar, 6-0, 6-0
- Brody Swan vs. Jacob McQueen, 6-2, 6-1
- Peter Griswold vs. Connor McAndrew, 6-0, 6-1
- Elliott Matheisen vs. Joe Mendala (singles exhibition)
News and Notes:
Coach Jones reiterated that our season is early and there is still a lot of match play ahead; "we are only 2 weeks in and we've not yet hit our best rhythm, but we are on the right track. We have a lot more work ahead."
Up Next:
The Panthers meet Knox College on Saturday February 10
th at 1:00 p.m., once again at home. On February 17
th the men and women travel together to Rose Hulman University to compete. If any alumni or friends are in the Indiana area.
Please come out and support us!
