2018 SLIAC Men's Tennis Tournament Preview
Story written by SLIAC Director of Athletic Communications, Brian Lovellette
The Tournament
Principia College comes into the 2018 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament looking to extend their winning streak to five consecutive titles. Principia has won four straight and will be looking to tie the third longest consecutive title streak in conference history with a fifth straight. This year's tournament is scheduled for this weekend, on Friday and Saturday, at Dwight Davis Tennis Center at Forest Park in St. Louis, Mo. The two-day tournament will include Fontbonne University, Greenville College, Principia College, Webster University, and Westminster College. In the case of rain, the tournament is set for King's Point in Belleville, Ill.
The tournament schedule begins on Friday with four matches. Match 1 will feature #4 seed Westminster College against #5 seed Fontbonne University. Match 2 will pit #2 seed Greenville University against #3 seed Webster University. Both matches will begin at 11 a.m. The day's second pair of matches will start at 2 p.m. and include top seed Principia College against the winner of match 1 as well as the loser of match 1 against the loser of match 2 in the fifth-place match. Saturday's action will include the third-place match and championship match with both taking place at 11 a.m.
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FONTBONNE UNIVERSITY 'GRIFFINS' Fontbonne was not able to get much action this spring with numerous matches rained out. First-year head coach Meredith Heater and the Griffins got just five matches in this spring with four of them coming in the last two weeks. The Griffins' Khoa Trieu and Blake Wisniewski tallied the only wins in singles action this spring. Noah Coddington and Jacob Lendy recorded the long Griffins doubles win, coming at the #3 spot. |
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GREENVILLE UNIVERSITY 'PANTHERS' Greenville went 14-2 this season and finished 3-1 in conference play. The Panthers started the year with 12 straight wins before suffering a loss to Rose-Hulman. The only conference loss this season was a 5-4 decision against Principia. Zach Plocher led the team with 15 singles wins, playing mainly at #4, while Austin Burkhart and Justin Tilford each picked up 14 wins. The doubles team of Tilford and Nate Wieland is one of the best in the league, going 12-4 this season. |
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PRINCIPIA COLLEGE 'PANTHERS' Principia has won 15 straight matches against SLIAC opponents, combining both regular season and postseason meetings. The Panthers went 11-6 overall and have won four straight as they enter the tournament. Principia had four players reach double digits in wins, led by 2017 SLIAC Newcomer of the Year Greg Sovie's 13 victories. Last year's Player of the Year, Jules Kitchingman (11-5 record) dropped down one position this year to make room for freshman Wyatt Dale (12-5 record) at the top. The doubles teams of Dale and Sovie and Kitchingman and Nat Kenworthy have combined for 24 wins. |
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WEBSTER UNIVERSITY 'GORLOKS' Webster went 7-5 this spring, going 2-2 in the SLIAC. The Gorloks improved by three wins overall this season and had a three-match win streak earlier this March. Freshman Zach Bliss has made an immediate impact for the Gorloks, going 7-3 this spring in singles action and adding four more doubles wins. Riley Muren added six wins from the #1 singles position. Courtland Butler has put together an undefeated season, going 4-0, while moving throughout the bottom three lineup spots. |
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WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 'BLUE JAYS' Westminster is the only other program, outside of Principia, to win the SLIAC Tournament. The Blue Jays were 2-4-1 this season and are coming off a third-place finish in last year's tournament. Adam Fuchs, Pete Hasenmueller, and Phillip Udinyiwe all tied for the team lead with three singles wins. In doubles action, Fuchs and Hasenmueller have combined for three wins at the #1 spot while brothers Joshua and Phillip Udinyiwe have combined for three wins as the #2 team. |