ST. LOUIS, MO – The 2025 UMAC South Division men's tennis tournament took place on Saturday at Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park. Principia came in as the #2 seed after going 3-1 in conference play this season. The top two teams in the division qualify for the UMAC Tournament in Minneapolis next weekend, so the Panthers would just need to beat #3 seed Webster in their first match of the day to clinch their spot in Minnesota.
The Panthers match against the Gorloks began with an intense doubles battle that came down to the wire. Webster won quickly 6-0 at #3, but Principia countered soon after with a 6-1 win at #2, so it would come down to the match at #1. Things looked to going the way of the Gorloks as Webster's regionally-ranked top pair led 5-2 and just needed one more game to clinch the doubles point for Webster. However, Principia's duo of
Nacho Cachaza and
Ernesto Botero locked in and played clutch tennis the rest of the way as they rattled off five straight games to claim a 7-5 victory and the massive opening point heading into singles.
In their regular season match vs Webster, the Panthers lost the doubles point and needed to win at least four singles matches to get the team victory. They would go on to win all six singles that day, but that was at home indoors without the Gorlok's #4 player. This match would be a different animal against a tougher bottom half of the Gorloks' lineup on neutral outdoor courts.
Despite playing a stronger opponent at #4,
Ignacio Zamora still dominated his match 6-2, 6-2 and was the first to finish and put another point on the board for the Panthers. Webster countered with wins at #5 and #6 to tie the overall match at 2-2.
Nacho Cachaza stepped into the #1 position in the first Webster match and rewarded Coach Zimmerman with a three-set comeback win. Cachaza continued his recent strong play was a much more convincing victory on Saturday as he dispatched Webster's #1 6-4, 6-0. Now Principia just needed one more point from either #2 or #3 to clinch the match.
Both
Jesús Soto Bossa at #2 and
Ernesto Botero at #3 won their first sets and looked to be in control, but each began to falter in the second set. As Botero lost the second 6-1, Soto Bossa fell behind 4-1 and things were looking a bit more dicey for the Panthers. However, Soto Bossa battled back to tie the set 6-6 and force a tiebreaker. The breaker went back-and-forth to start, but Soto Bossa would ultimately prevail 7-4 to secure the 4-2 overall victory that sends the Principia men's team to Minnesota.
The Panthers then took on #1 seed Greenville an hour later to determine who would have the higher seed in the UMAC Tournament. Principia would unfortunately lose 4-0 to a strong GU squad who were more rested after a much less taxing first match.
Principia will now face the top team from the North division, the University of Wisconsin-Superior, in the UMAC Tournament semifinals on Friday at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
