Principia Captures 12th SLIAC Tournament Championship
The Principia College men's tennis team capture the program's 12th SLIAC Tournament title on Saturday with a 5-1 win over Westminster College in the championship match.
Principia rolled through their opposition this weekend, winning their first dual match on Friday 5-0 and following with a convincing 5-1 win in Saturday's dual match. The Panthers took two of three doubles matches including a shutout by their #1 team of Jason Wissman and Joey Sander. The duo notched the game winning point on a reaching back-hander that just cleared the net for no return.
The #2 doubles team of Nate Waters and Daniel Drake recorded an 8-2 win to give the Panthers the edge in doubles. Drake gave the Panthers the lead in the final set when he had three consecutive attacks at the net, ending with a slam to put Principia up 30-15. Waters closed out the set with an ace.
Westminster's #3 team of Kyle Collins and Scott Strough were able to pick up the only win of the day for the Blue Jays, winning 8-3. In singles play Sander won at #2 by the scores of 6-0, 6-0 while Waters blanked his opponent in the #3 spot as well. The winning match was at #6 singles when Aaron Switzer won 6-2, 6-3.
Greenville College and Webster University squared off in the third-place match with Greenville recording a 5-0 win. The match of the day was at #1 doubles where Greenville's Jonathan Urshan and Alex Dowley edge out Webster's Juan Granizo and Karl Wesshaupt 9-8. In that match Greenville came from down 5 sets to 4, taking a 6-5 lead as Urshan recorded an ace to put the Panthers up. Webster responded by taking the next two sets before Greenville evened it up once again to go into a tiebreaker where Greenville pulled away.
Following the match the conference named the All-Sportsmanship team. Principia College was awarded the Team Sportsmanship plaque for the second time in program history. In addition each team recognized one student-athlete that best represents the ideals of sportsmanship. From Fontbonne University Nathan Reichert, from Greenville College Demetrius Bush, from Principia College Jason Wissman, from Webster University Beau Kolpa and from Westminster College Kyle Collins.
