ST. LOUIS, MO – The Principia Women's Tennis team competed in the SLIAC Tournament on Saturday at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park. After a recent stretch of cold and rain, the sun came out for some perfect tennis weather. It was a long day of matches with the semifinals and finals played back-to-back. The final between Principia and Greenville was a battle for the ages as both teams fought for every point for over four hours. In the end, it would come down to multiple third-set tiebreakers to determine the conference champions.
The Panthers' earned the top seed in the tournament by sweeping conference play during the regular season, so their day began with a semifinal match against fourth seed Westminster College. Since the Blue Jays only have four players, Principia began the match with a 3-0 lead and only needed to win #1 and #2 doubles to secure a spot in the finals. Camila Gomez and Veronica Volkart teamed up at #1 doubles for an 8-0 win. At #2 doubles, Gaby Quintero and Kelsie Huss got an 8-1 win to clinch the match. The Panthers would await the winner of the second semifinal between Webster and Greenville. In a hard-fought match that came down to the wire, Greenville got the 5-4 victory to set up a clash of the Panthers for the title.
In the championship, Greenville got the first point of the match at #3 doubles. Despite the loss, Ruth Hummell and Caroline Carlson played aggressively and won four more games than in their previous meeting with Greenville. Principia got their first point from an 8-5 win by Gomez and Volkart at #1 doubles. Greenville's top pair peppered Volkart with tough volleys which she handled well.
With the overall match tied 1-1, the battle at #2 doubles would be a critical point. After a close beginning that led to a tie at 5-5, the Greenville #2 team took a 7-5 lead and only needed one more game for the match. However, Quintero and Huss fought back to tie the match at 7-7 and force a seven-point tiebreaker. The points in the tiebreaker were long with both teams keeping the ball in play and moving each other around the court. Huss' high lobs kept the Greenville pair tentative. The tiebreaker went back and forth to 6-6 when Greenville put in a strong first serve forcing a return error from Principia. Greenville was able to secure the final point for a 2-1 lead going into singles. Principia would now have to win four singles matches to win the championship.
The first singles match to be completed was a nice win for Huss at #3 where she didn't drop a single game. The next match to finish was Volkart at #4 singles who bested her opponent 6-1, 6-2. This was a big turn around for Volkart, because in their regular season meeting, she had lost her singles match to the same Greenville opponent in three sets. Principia was now leading 3-2 overall, however Greenville was able to get wins at #5 and #6 singles to regain a 4-3 lead. Both Carlson (at #5) and Hummell (at #6) also had much stronger showings than their last singles matches against Greenville.
Principia now needed wins at both #1 and #2 singles in order to take the SLIAC title. At #1 singles, Greenville's top player used great defensive skills and some powerful winners to take the first set 6-2. Gomez rebounded with aggressive ground strokes and took the second set 6-1. As their third set was beginning, Quintero was locked in an intense match at #2 singles. After Quintero cruised to a 6-1 first set win, she was leading 5-3 in the second when her Greenville opponent came alive with her back against the wall to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. The back-and-forth tiebreaker was a battle of will as each player countered every punch thrown by their opponent. From 5-5 onwards, neither player could get a two-point advantage as the tiebreaker reached all the way to 16-16. Each player had many opportunities to take the set as both were keeping the ball in play and utilizing drop shots to force the other into mistakes. Finally, Greenville took the set at 18-16 to force a decisive third set.
As this fierce competition was unfolding on court #2, Principia came close to losing the overall match when Gomez fell behind 5-3 in the third on court #1. However, she fought back to even the match at 5-5. After Greenville's #1 took a 6-5 lead, Gomez held serve to force a tiebreaker. Gomez then took control in the tiebreaker and pulled out the win 7-4 to keep Principia's title hopes alive.
With the overall match now level at 4-4, the deciding point would come down to the final set on court #2. Just like Gomez, Quintero went down 5-3 in the third but evened the match at 5-5. Both players then broke each other's serve to force another tiebreaker. After the multitude of points throughout the day, the championship would now be decided by this final tiebreak. Greenville's #2 took the first point, and she didn't look back going up 5-1. Quintero wouldn't go quietly and dug in to get back within a couple points down 6-4. A drop shot from Greenville on the final rally forced a wide return from Quintero, and the Greenville team rushed the court in celebration of their first ever SLIAC championship in women's tennis.
Despite the heartbreaking result in their final match, the Principia women had a great season working hard together and creating a bonded team. They will take this experience and build upon it. With five out of six of Principia's top players returning next year and more recruits on the way, look for the team to regroup and come back even stronger as they begin play in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference in 2023.
