BLOOMINGTON, IL - The Principia Men's Tennis team traveled to Illinois Wesleyan University to face them and North Central College in a tri-match onn Saturday afternoon. The Panthers ended up with a split, opening with a 8-1 loss to North Central and bouncing back for a 5-4 win over Illinois Wesleyan.
Principia encountered a strong North Central team to start the day, ranked #9 in the ITA Central region. Daniel Gomez and Juan Segovia kept things close in a loss as they took four games against the #6 doubles team in the region. Rafter Sprague and William Johnson played competitive doubles as well in an 8-3 loss on court #2. Gomez put a point on the board for the Panthers with a straight set victory at #1 singles, 6-2, 6-4, for his best win of the season against the region's #10 singles player.
The Panthers found success switching up the doubles lineup against Illinois Wesleyan. Segovia and Sprague teamed up on court #2 and got an important point with an 8-4 win. Gomez and Johnson followed that with a huge victory in a tiebreak at #1 doubles for a 2-1 team lead going into singles. The top three of Gomez, Segovia, and Sprague each took care of business – all in straight sets – to deliver a 5-4 team win and break a five match losing streak for Principia.
Up Next: The Panthers will play on Monday at 4 pm in St. Louis against Washington University.
