MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The Principia Women's Tennis team traveled north this past weekend for the UMAC Final Four Tournament held at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The winner of the tournament would be crowned conference champions and earn an automatic berth to NCAA Regionals. Play began on Friday evening with the semifinal matches. As the top seed from the South Division, the Panthers faced off with the North Division runner-up, the University of Minnesota Morris Cougars.
The Principia women won all three doubles matches with aggressive play at the net and went into the singles matches needing only two wins to clinch their spot in the championship. As the Panthers took early leads across the board, it became a quest among the team to see who would finish first to earn the final two points.
Saray Hernandez Cisneros won the battle as she claimed a 6-1, 6-0 victory at #2 singles. Moments later,
Kimbeley Peterson closed out her opponent 6-1, 6-1 at #5 singles to give Principia the victory.
Bissola Lassissi was one game away from winning her #1 singles match leading 6-0, 5-1. The University of Northwestern Eagles – who won the North Division and are the three-time defending UMAC champions – defeated Webster 5-0 in the other semifinal to set a Panthers-Eagles matchup in the finals on Saturday afternoon.
The championship match started out with Principia taking the lead at #1 and #3 doubles but falling behind 3-0 at #2 doubles. The Panthers' #3 doubles pair of
Kelsie Huss and
Ruth Hummell played one of their best matches of the season as they fought hard for every point and almost every game went to the tiebreaking deuce point. Hummell was at her best as she played aggressively at net while Huss was creative in her volleying and moving the ball around with instinctive play at the net. Despite the great showing, the duo could not overcome the strength of the Northwestern #3's.
Principia's #1 pair of
Bissola Lassissi and
Veronica Volkart were methodical in their doubles play, combining strong serves and consistent returns to capture an 8-3 win. The Panthers' #2 duo of
Saray Hernandez Cisneros and
Kimbeley Peterson righted the ship after the early 3-0 hole as they pounded strong returns and cross-court winners to take 8 of the next 9 games and win their match 8-4. It was a big team goal to take at least 2 of the 3 doubles and the women completed the task in great form. Going into the singles, Principia needed to win three out of six matches to secure the championship.
Lassissi was flawless and dominating at #1 singles and finished early with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Her doubles partner, Volkart, won her match at #4 singles with a similar score but different style. Volkart was steady from the baseline and came to net to close out points. The Panthers were now up 4-1 in matches and needed just one more win. At #2 singles, Cisneros cruised through her first set at 6-1 to put Principia on the verge of the title. Elsewhere, Huss and Peterson were locked in battles at #3 and #5. The points in Huss' match were long as she played her scrappy game but could not overcome the dominant net play of her opponent. Huss fell 6-2, 6-2 to cut Principia's overall lead to 4-2. Peterson fought hard but fell behind by a break of serve in each set and could not get the break back as she lost 6-3, 6-4. Northwestern was gaining momentum as they were now only down by one.
Back at #2, Northwestern's Abby Johnson turned things around after a slow start and began to play more steady as she ran down Cisneros' hard ground strokes and forced her into errors. Johnson took the second set 6-2, and the match moved on to the all-important third set as Hummell began play at #6 singles. After a tough first set that finished quickly in favor of the Eagles, Hummell was determined to do better in the second and went out with a more steady resolve.
Cisneros went up a break at 3-1 in the third set at #2, but the relentless, steady play from Johnson evened the match at 3-3. As most of the games went to a deuce point, Cisneros unfortunately lost her serve at 4-4. Johnson then served out the match for a huge comeback victory to tie the overall score 4-4.
With the match now coming down to #6 singles, Hummell raised her game and won 3 games to stay in the second set. Some extremely long rallies ensued as both players ran down every ball. Northwestern was determined to defend their UMAC territory and not give up their title as the Eagles eventually prevailed to pull off an incredible comeback from 4-1 down for their fourth straight championship. The Panthers put up a mighty fight to tear the championship away, but in the end came up just short.
The Panthers are a young team with two freshmen and three sophomores who will come back next year ready to put what they learned from this year into practice. The team is already looking forward to an awesome 2024 season and the chance at a rematch to end the Eagles' reign atop the UMAC.
