ELSAH, IL - The Principia Men's Tennis team returned to their home courts for a rematch of the 2019 NCAA National Tournament 1st round against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Friday.
The Panthers knew they would have to bring their best against the Central Region's #8 ranked team, but doubles started more slowly than they would have liked. Rafter Sprague and William Johnson started to show some life at #2, as Sprague crushed his returns allowing them fought back from down 6-3 to a 7-6 deficit before the Warhawks closed the door. Elliott Matthiesen and Everett Poznick continued to fight as well after falling down 6-1, holding twice and breaking once before the end in an 8-4 loss.
Juan Segovia took the first set at #2 singles before falling in the second set and in the third set tiebreak. Daniel Gomez played his closest match of the season against the region's #7 ranked player. He dropped the first set in a tiebreak, but then quickly opened the second set with a break. He then held his serve down the stretch to force a third set tiebreak (first to ten points). It was back and forth until Gomez went on a run to go up 8-4, but it was all Whitewater from there. Their #1 stormed back to take a 9-8 lead with match point. Gomez fought it off until he trailed again at 12-11, when a forehand that went long ended an intense night for the Panthers on a hard note.
Up Next: The Panthers open SLIAC play on Tuesday with their final home match of the season against Westminster College at 4:30 pm.
