WEBSTER GROVES, MO – After celebrating the career of senior Kelsie Huss during a 9-0 exhibition home win over SWIC on Tuesday, the Principia Women's Tennis team headed down to St. Louis on Friday for their final match of the regular season vs conference rival Webster University. The Panthers came ready to fight against tough opponent in the Gorloks, and the whole lineup played stellar tennis for a big 7-2 victory to clinch the #1 seed in the UMAC South Tournament next Friday.
The team and coaches are so grateful for Huss and her dedication to her teammates and her craft during her time at Principia. A two-year captain, she steadily improved every season and earned multiple Player of the Week awards. Last season, she won First Team All-Conference and will be looking to do the same this year if she can stay undefeated in UMAC singles play.
Huss had a great day on Friday as she won both her matches including a hard-fought win at #3 singles that featured many long rallies. She was pushed to a tiebreaker to win the first set and then closed out the second set losing only one game. Earlier on, Huss teamed up with Ruth Hummell for the pair's first conference doubles victory with an 8-5 win at #3. Hummell had one of her best performances of the season with exceptional returns and then being aggressive at the net to close out points.
Saray Hernandez Cisneros and Kimbeley Peterson also had strong days as each earned a win together at #2 doubles followed by straight set singles wins at #2 and #5. Their strong probing ground strokes were either outright winners or forced their opponents into errors. Bissola Lassissi and Veronica Volkart came up short in their #1 doubles match, but they turned things around with dominant singles wins at #1 and #4.
The win over Webster gives the Panthers a perfect 3-0 conference record having only lost 4 of 27 matches. The top two teams in the UMAC South Tournament earn a trip to Minnesota for the UMAC Final Four where the teams will compete for an automatic bid to the NCAA D3 National Women's Tennis Tournament. Come support the Principia women this coming Friday, April 21 as the four UMAC South teams will compete for the "SLIAC Championship" at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park.
