ELSAH, IL – The Principia Women's Tennis team hosted the DePauw University Tigers on Friday afternoon in a tightly contest battle. The overall match would come down to the final singles matches as the Tigers outlasted the Panthers 5-4 after over four hours of play.
The day started out with the Panthers winning just one of the three doubles matches as sisters
Gaby Quintero and
Mafe Quintero grinded out an 8-7 win at #2 doubles thanks to a 7-3 advantage in the tiebreaker.
Since this was Principia's first match against an NCAA school in 2024, the two teams followed the NCAA guideline of playing full third sets when necessary instead of the 10-point tiebreaker third sets the Panthers played in their first match against an NAIA team. All of the #1 through #4 singles matches vs DePauw ended up splitting the first two sets, so the full third sets were a big factor in the overall match taking so long.
At #1 singles,
Bissola Lassissi lost her first set 2-6 but bounced back to win the final two sets 6-2, 6-4. It was an exciting third set with Lassissi fighting through leg cramps to chase down balls and grit out the last game. At #2 singles,
Saray Hernandez Cisneros went down 0-3 in the first set but then won six of the next seven games to take the set 6-4 using her crushing backhand. After losing the second set 4-6, she came back strong with her steady ground strokes to dominate the third set 6-1 for the Panthers third point of the match.
At #3 singles,
Mafe Quintero started well by winning the first set 6-3, but her opponent turned things around to take the final two sets 4-6, 0-6 and tie the overall match at 3-3. At #4 singles,
Gaby Quintero was up a break for most of the first set, but ended up losing the last three games to go down a set at 4-6. Gaby played a steadier game in the second to win 6-2 and force an intense third set that went back-and-forth. Both players would not give in as the final set went to a 7-point tiebreaker at 6-6. Gaby took an early lead in the breaker with powerful ground stokes and finished it out 7-2 for a hard-fought victory.
After
Kimbeley Peterson lost in straight sets at #5 singles, the overall match was tied 4-4 and would come down to
Veronica Volkart at #6. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Volkart wasn't feeling well and had to retire after losing the first set as DePauw took the W.
Despite the loss, the was definitely the strongest showing Principia has had with DePauw in recent years as the Panthers were coming off three straight 8-1 losses to the Tigers since 2019. This year's team worked hard against an excellent team to grind out multiple comeback wins. The Panthers want to work on improving first serve percentages and developing more variety in their game moving forward.
Up Next: The Principia women have a quick turnaround as they will face a Division II school, Truman State University, at home in Hexberg tomorrow (Saturday) at 9:00 am.
