ELSAH, IL – On Friday afternoon, the Principia Men's Tennis team hosted conference rival Greenville University for their final regular season match. With both teams coming in 2-0 in conference play, this match would decide who will be the top seed in next Saturday's UMAC South Division Tournament.
Usual #2 singles player,
Jesús Soto Bossa, recently went down with a season-ending injury, so many Principia player had to move up a position while doubles pairings had to be shuffled.
Juan Segovia took Bossa's place at #2 doubles,
Ernesto Botero moved up to #1 doubles to pair with
Kuda Sandi, and
Álvaro Martín Moliz joined the doubles lineup at #3 paired with
Rafter Sprague. The senior captains, Segovia and Johnson, cruised to an 8-1 win at #2, while the other two pairs lost close battles. Botero and Sandi played especially well at #1 against the top doubles team in the conference. An early service break gave Botero and Sandi the lead until Greenville broke back late to take the match 8-6.
Botero moved up to #3 in Bossa's absence and had a strong showing with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Unfortunately for Principia, Greenville was able to get straight set victories at #1, #2, and #4 singles to secure the overall victory. Moliz and Johnson each lost their first sets but battled back to win their second sets and force a third set super tiebreaker. After Johnson outdueled Greenville's Tignee for a 10-8 victory at #6, both teams congregated next to court #5 to watch Moliz and Greenville's Motsinger fight for the final point. While this match would not decide the overall result, it was still an intense, back-and-forth battle. Still tied 10-10, the tiebreaker extended until Moliz finally won the point at 11-10 to take the match.
As tends to be the case every season when the two Panther teams face off, these contests never fail to be exciting and hard-fought matchups. With the 5-4 win, Greenville earns the top seed in the tournament at Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park next Saturday. As the second seed, Principia will need to first defeat the Webster men at 10:30 AM to earn a second opportunity to play Greenville for the division championship. A win over Webster will also clinch a spot in the UMAC Final Four Tournament in Minneapolis the following weekend.
Not to be counted out, the Panthers have faced this situation before in 2016 after losing the regular season matchup with Greenville, Principia came back to win at the tournament. This is exactly the mindset that the Panthers are holding themselves to as they work hard during this final practice week of the regular season. If you're in the area, come on out to Edwardsville to support the team on Saturday afternoon!
