Kalamazoo, MI -Â Daniel Gomez and Juan Segovia competed on Saturday's 2nd day of the ITA Central Regional Tournament. After a successful day 1, day two proved to be a significant step up in competition for the Panther duo.
The day started with Gomez and Segovia's quarterfinal doubles match against the 5th seeded team from Denison University. Denison's team was powerful from both the baseline as well as up at the net. Gomez and Segovia fell behind early 0-2 but quickly tied it up at 2-2. From there, both teams played exceptionally well, but it was the Denison team that was able to win some of the bigger points. Gomez and Segovia fell 4-8 but played some very good doubles throughout the tournament!
Next up for Segovia and Gomez were their singles matches. Segovia was in the round of 16 of the back draw, while Gomez was in 16 of the main draw. Segovia played a steady opponent from Ohio Northern. After making too many errors and losing the first set 1-6, Segovia picked up his game to win the second set 6-4. The match went to a 10 point tiebreaker, where Segovia could get an 8-6 lead, but unfortunately, he could not close out the match. He ended up losing 1-6, 6-4, 8-10.
Daniel Gomez played a formidable seeded opponent against Wash U. Gomez started on fire and took the first set 6-1. However, his opponent picked up his play and executed it, forcing Gomez into a few errors. Gomez dropped the second set 2-6, which took the match to a complete third set. This set was filled with great points throughout and tied at 4-4 when play was moved indoors due to rain. Gomez got broken to go down 4-5 but saved two match points to get the break and tie the match at 5-5. Gomez held and went up 6-5 but did not get the break, and the game went to a tiebreaker. His opponent's huge serve proved to be a significant advantage indoors, and Gomez fell behind 2-6. While he could save two more match points, Gomez eventually lost 6-1, 2-6, 6-7 (4).
Up Next:Â This concludes the fall season for the Panthers. They will now look forward to the spring season, where Principia will look to win their 8th straight SLIAC Championship, and Daniel Gomez will look to make a return to the NCAA Individual Tournament.
Tournament Results:https://colleges.wearecollegetennis.com/Competitions/KalamazooCollegeW/Tournaments/draws/4C90304B-D821-474C-BB23-F898C365EF87
