ST. LOUIS, MO – Principia, Greenville, Webster, and Westminster joined the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference for tennis in 2023 to ensure the conference champion would receive an automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament. These four former SLIAC tennis programs became the UMAC South Division, while the six original UMAC programs became the UMAC North Division. On Friday, the UMAC South held their women's postseason tournament in Forest Park to determine a division champion as well as which two teams would qualify for the UMAC Tournament in Minneapolis next weekend.
The day began with the two important semifinal matchups with UMAC Tournament qualification on the line. Principia faced Westminster, and since the Blue Jays only have four players, the Panthers started up 3-0 and simply needed to win both doubles matches to advance. Principia won both matches 8-0 to clinch their spot in Minneapolis. Webster defeated Greenville 5-1 in the other semifinal to set up a Panthers-Gorloks final.
After an hour break, the division championship got underway. Webster took the first point with a quick win at #3 doubles as the Principia duo of Kelsie Huss and Ruth Hummell and did not play as consistently as the week before. Principia's #2 pair of Saray Hernandez Cisneros and Kimbeley Peterson fell behind 7-5 but fought their way back to a tiebreaker at 7-7. The teams exchanged runs in the breaker as an early 3-1 lead for Principia was erased by Gorloks run to go ahead 5-3. Cisneros then took over at net and made a few clutch poaches to go with her heavy hitting from the baseline. The Panthers took the final four points to win 7-5.
Having lost #1 doubles in their match with Webster the week before, Bissola Lassissi and Veronica Volkart were hoping to flip the script this time. After a shaky start down 3-1, they turned things around with strong serves and returns to win six of the next seven games and go up 7-4. Webster turned up the aggression to make it 7-6 which gave Lassissi the chance to serve out the match. On the deuce match point, Volkart made a strong volley the Gorloks could not reach to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead heading into singles.
These postseason matches are played until either team secures a fifth point, unlike regular season matches which are played to completion no matter the score. Therefore, Principia just needed to win three of the six singles matches to win the championship. All six matches played simultaneously, and Principia won the first set in every match but #6. After the first set loss, Ruth Hummell started to play a more steady game and forced long points as she was able to get the second set to 3-3 when the match ended.
Volkart at #4 was the first to finish off her opponent 6-2, 6-2 with strong, steady play. At #2, Cisneros finished soon after with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win using her strong forehand and backhand to hit many winners. Huss at #3 and Peterson at #5 were neck-and-neck to see who would win first and clinch the decisive point. With both players a game away at 6-1, 5-2, Huss was able to secure the victory first as the Panthers were crowned champions of the UMAC South Division. In previous years, winning this tournament would mean earning a SLIAC Championship, so in that vain, this was the Principia women's first championship since 2019. As none of the current players were on the team then, this was a first title for everyone, and was especially meaningful for captain Kelsie Huss to win in her senior year.
Having earned the #1 seed for the UMAC South, the Panthers will travel up to Minneapolis, MN to take on the #2 seed from the North Division in the UMAC Semifinals on Friday, April 28 at 6:30 pm CT. If they win, they will play the following day at 1:00 pm for the UMAC Championship and automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament. The matches will take place at the University of Minnesota's Baseline Tennis Center.
