EDWARDSVILLE, IL – The Principia Men's Tennis team competed in the SLIAC Tournament on Friday looking to win their eighth straight conference championship. The tournament was moved from the Dwight David Tennis Center in Forest Park to the YMCA Meyer Center in Edwardsville due to rain.
The Panthers faced Webster in the semifinals, and it was a much improved team from previous years. Principia grabbed two routine wins at #1 and #2 doubles, but Webster fought hard at #3 doubles to get a point heading into singles play. It was their first individual match win against the Panthers since 2013.
Juan Segovia put the team up 3-1 with a straight set win at #2. Rafter Sprague lost the opening set at #3, but he turned things around and only lost one game the rest of the way. William Johnson clinched the match at #4 to set up a rematch with Greenville in the final. Daniel Gomez was up 3-1 in the third set when play stopped and Elliott Matthiesen was up 5-3 in the first set.
In the finals, Principia gave Greenville a fight in doubles. Gomez and Segovia went down a break early and never recovered in an 8-5 loss. Sprague and Johnson broke serve to go up 4-3 but gave it right back. Another break for Greenville at 5-5 was the difference as the rival Panthers held the rest of the way. Matthiesen and Everett Poznick went up 2 breaks for a 5-2 lead on court #3 and were playing their best doubles of the season. However, Greenville responded with four straight games, and both teams then held serve to force a tiebreak at 7 all. Matthiesen and Poznick had a match point up 6-5, but they lost the next three points and the match.
The play then shifted to singles with Principia now needing to take five out of six matches to win. That wasn't in the cards today as Greenville got straight-set victories at #3 and #4 singles to end Principia's streak and win their first men's tennis SLIAC championship in school history. Gomez won his first set in a tiebreak and was up 2-0 in the second set when play stopped. Segovia also took his first set but trailed 5-2 in the second, and Matthiesen was down 2-0 at #5.
Greenville played some great tennis this season and today to earn the title, but Principia fought hard despite falling short in the end. This concludes the Panthers' season and their time playing tennis in the SLIAC conference as Principia tennis will move to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference next season.
