ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The women's tennis team came up just short on Saturday's SLIAC championship match against Principia.  Greenville led 2-1 after doubles play, but Principia took four of the six singles matches for the conference championship.

Greenville's No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams grabbed wins early with the duos of Bailey Pearce and Emma Wieland and Annie Bellinger and Maddi Walsh winning their matches.

After Principia won at No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 singles, Greenville answered with wins from No. 5 Bellinger and No. 6 Samantha Siefken to make the score 4-4.

Greenville's No. 4 Courtney Blaser took the early 6-3 edge in the opening set as she was just one set from giving Greenville their first SLIAC tournament championship.

Principia grabbed a 7-5 win in set two, forcing the competitors to play a third set. Principia went ahead 4-0, and Blaser broke her serve and then held serve to make it 4-2.  Principia took a 5-2 lead, but Blaser won the next two games to make it 5-4

Jones hit a strong serve and off the return put a deep baseline shot that bounced high above Blaser for a 5-2 lead. Blaser kept alive with wins in the next two games, closing the set score to 5-4.  In the final game, Principia took a medical timeout on match point, and a ball in the net ended the match in Principia's favor 6-4.

The Panthers (12-6) completed their season as the SLIAC regular season champions and appeared in the SLIAC championship match for the first time since 2014.