Storm suffer narrow defeat to Illinois College during road doubleheader

ELSAH, Ill. - The Simpson College men's tennis team saw a narrow defeat to Illinois College while playing a doubleheader at host Principia on Saturday.

The Storm (1-5, 0-1 A-R-C) had a rough start against the host school, but rebounded in the match against the Blueboys (1-4).

Javier Robles Solis and Grant Love combined to get the Storm on the board at No. 1 doubles with an 8-6 win, but the Blueboys took the No. 2 spot by the same score and had a 2-1 lead going into singles after a default win at the No. 3 spot.

The top of the order of the Storm all won their matches. Robles Solis rebounded from a tough first set loss via a tiebreaker to win the second set and force a third set supertiebreaker at No. 1 singles. The sophomore won the tiebreak, 10-7, to claim his second dual match win of the season.

Drake Downard and Love competed at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, also winning in straight sets. However, the Blueboys won the spots from No. 4 through No. 6 to narrowly win the match, 5-4.

UP NEXT
The Storm will take on Northwestern (Minn.) on March 23 in Pella, Iowa.

Match 1: Principia 9, Simpson 0

DOUBLES
1. Jesus Soto/Ignacio Zamora (PRIN) def. Javier Robles Solis/Grant Love (SIM) 8-2
2. Ernesto Botero/Juan Cachaza (PRIN) def. Drake Downard/Gavin Pate (SIM) 8-0
3. Rafter Sprague/Alvaro Moliz (PRIN) win by default

SINGLES
1. Soto (PRIN) def. Robles Solis (SIM) 6-3, 6-1
2. Cachaza (PRIN) def. Downard (SIM) 6-0, 6-0
3. Botero (PRIN) def. Love (SIM) 6-1, 6-4
4. Sprague (PRIN) def. Pate (SIM) 6-0, 6-0
5. Moliz (PRIN) def. Hexamer (SIM) 6-0, 6-0
6. Win by default

Match 2: Illinois College 5, Simpson 4

DOUBLES
1. Robles Solis/Love (SIM) def. Jeff Wernsing/Glenn Conway (IC) 8-6
2. Grayson Dupre/Andres Dupre (IC) def. Downard/Pate (SIM) 8-6
3. Manir Vickovic/Tony Loaiza (IC) win by default

SINGLES
1. Robles Solis (SIM) def. Wernsing (IC) 6-7 (7-4), 6-2, 10-7
2. Downard (SIM) def. Conway (IC) 6-4, 6-2
3. Love (SIM) def. G. Dupre (IC) 6-3, 6-4
4. A. Dupre (IC) def. Pate (SIM) 6-0, 6-0
5. Vickovic (IC) def. Hexamer (SIM) 6-0, 6-0
6. Win by default