Greenville, Ill -- In the 'Battle of the Panthers', Principia College took on Greenville University in a rematch of the past two seasons SLIAC Championship. This has become a friendly rivalry over the years and has led to some extremely good matches between the teams. Last nights match was no different as it was close throughout. Principia came away with an important 2-1 lead after doubles play, and only needed 3 singles points to win the match. Principia got just what they needed in singles, as they earned a hard fought 5-4 victory over Greenville.
At 2nd doubles,
Jules Kitchingman and
Nat Kenworthy came out on fire and started Principia off well with an 8-1 victory over their opponents. 3rd doubles was next to finish, and
Brody Swan and
Peter Griswold played a tough match, but in the end were unable to win enough big points, falling 5-8. The match of the day was at 1st doubles, where
Wyatt Dale and
Greg Sovie fell behind two breaks of serve at 4-7, and clawed back into the match at 7-7. They were broken again to fall behind 7-8, but broke right back to take the match into a deciding tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, it was all Principia, as they jumped out to the early lead and did not let go, winning 9-8 (2).
In singles, Principia was able to earn victories at the top three positions. At 1st singles,
Wyatt Dale started strong and never let go of his control in his match, winning 6-1, 6-3. At 2nd singles,
Jules Kitchingman was solid throughout and played some of his best tennis of the season in a 6-1, 6-2 win. At 3rd singles,
Greg Sovie closed out the match with a smooth 6-0, 6-3 win. This gave the Panthers the 5 points needed to earn the victory. At 4th and 5th singles,
Nat Kenworthy and
Brody Swan both played tough matches that went to the very end, but unfortunately were unable to come away with the victories.
Inside the Box Score (Match 1): Â
Principia vs. Greenville:
(Doubles match winners are in bold)
1st Doubles:Â
Wyatt Dale / Greg Sovie vs. Nate Wieland / Justin Tilford  9-8 (2)
2nd Doubles:
Jules Kitchingman / Nat Kenworthy vs. Zach Plocher / Daniel Pieplow  8-1
3rd Doubles:
Brody Swan /
Peter Griswold vs.
Gabe Munoz / Austin Burkhart 8-5
(Singles match winners are in bold)
       1.
Wyatt Dale vs. Nate Wieland 6-1, 6-3
       2.
Jules Kitchingman vs. Gabe Munoz 6-1, 6-2
       3.
Greg Sovie vs. Daniel Pieplow 6-0, 6-3
       4.
Nat Kenworthy vs.
Zach Plocher 6-2, 3-6, 10-8
       5.
Brody Swan vs.
Justin Tilford 2-6, 7-6, 11-9
       6.
Dan Wagstaff vs.
Austin Burkhart 6-4, 6-0
News and Notes:
The Panthers are now 9-6 overall and 2-0 in SLIAC play. Principia has only two more matches before their SLIAC Tournament begins. It certainly looks like it will be another 'Battle of the Panthers' in the SLIAC Championship here in a week and a half.
Up Next:
Principia next plays on Parents Weekend both Fontbonne University and Webster University on Saturday April 4th at home. The Fontbonne match starts at 9:00 AM and the Webster match begins at 4:00 PM. Come out and support the Men's Tennis Team in their final home matches of the season.
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