ELSAH, IL – The Principia Men's Tennis team opened their 2023 season with a bang on Saturday on their home court against the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. After Principia was gifted two wins by forfeit due to UHSP only having five players, the Panthers won all seven of their matches for a 9-0 sweep. This past fall, Principia just barely defeated this same Eutectics squad 5-4, so today showed great improvement and promise for the rest of the spring!
The match opened with two great doubles showings from senior/freshman pairs playing their first matches together. At #1, senior
Juan Segovia teamed up with freshman
Kuda Sandi for a strong 8-3 victory. At #2, senior
William Johnson played with newcomer
Jesús Soto Bossa for an exciting battle with the UHSP duo that played #1 in the fall. After the Panther pair got a big break at 6-3 to move within a game of the match, the Eutectics would break back followed by a hold to push the score to 7-5. Johnson then served out the match for a well-earned 8-5 win.
For singles, Johnson and Bossa headed to the sideline while junior
Rafter Sprague (#3) and freshmen
Álvaro Martín Moliz (#4) and
Ernesto Botero (#5) joined the lineup. All three cruised to straight set victories, as did Segovia at #1. The most exciting match of the day came at #2 singles between Sandi and UHSP's Caden Hillman. After dropping the first set 6-3, Sandi bounced back with 6-4 second set win to force the 10-point tiebreaker. A back-and-forth battle would ensue that needed more than 10 to be decided. Sandi would finally prevail at 12-10 for a thrilling finish to the day.
Up Next: The Panthers host Simpson College and Illinois Wesleyan University for a big doubleheader on Saturday, February 11th, beginning at 9:00 am. The great fan turnout for this home opener, so come on out again next weekend!
