ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Augustana won at the top four singles flights Friday on its way to a 5-3 victory over Grinnell in NCAA Tournament first round play at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center. Coach
Jon Miedema's Vikings improved to 13-6 on the season and advanced to second-round play where they'll face the nation's top-ranked team, the host Bears of Washington University. The Pioneers suffered their first loss in 10 dual meets this year.
While Augustana dominated the top singles flights, Grinnell won at the top two doubles spots.
Juniors
Leonardo Panosso (La Sale Caxias, Caxsias do Sul, Brazil) and
Justin Cassens (Emerald Ridge HS, Puyallup, Wash.) gave the Vikings a 1-0 advantage with an 8-3 win over Henry Bridgers and Ishaan Tibrewal at third doubles. It was the first match lost by the Pioneers all season.
Grinnell bounced back with an 8-4 first doubles win by Bowen Mince and Leo Esztergomi over seniors Caio de Rezende
(Colegio Itoca, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and
Alvaro Leal (Maristas Valencia, Valencia, Spain). At number two, Michael Conlin-Brandenburg and Jonah Gilmore claimed an 8-7 (7-5) victory over senior
Peter Alex (Hinsdale South HS, Darien, Ill.) and junior
Kyle Boudreau (Antioch HS, Antioch, Ill.) to send the Pioneers to singles play with a 2-1 lead.
Tibrewal downed Cassens 6-0, 6-1 at sixth singles to extend the lead to 3-1, but Leal's 6-3, 6-3 win over Conlin-Brandenburg at number two started to turn the tide in Augustana's favor.
De Rezende tied the dual with an 6-0, 8-6 victory over Mince at number one and the Vikings took a 4-3 lead when Alex defeated Esztergomi four and three at number three.
That left Panosso and freshman
Eliot St. Paul (Ecole Diagonal, Paris, France) still playing for Augustana, which needed a win from one of the two. It was Panosso who captured the clincher over Gilmore at fourth singles. He took the first set 6-2 and fell by the same score in the second, but bounced back to claim the third 6-3 and move Augustana into Saturday's second round.
St. Paul took the first set of his fifth singles match versus Bridgers 6-4 and trailed 5-6 in the second when play was halted.
Saturday's second-round dual against Washington is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start, also at the Dwight Davis facility.
