BELLEVILLE, Ill. - For the second time in less than a week, Webster University and Principia College faced off against each other on the tennis court, but this time the stakes were a little higher as the winner earned a spot in the championship match of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament and chance to win a league title.

In Friday afternoon's semifinal match of the SLIAC Tournament at Kings Point Tennis Center, No. 2 seeded Principia picked up a hard-fought come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Gorloks to advance to Saturday's championship match against top-seeded Greenville University. The Gorloks will face No. 5 seeded Westminster (Mo.) College on Saturday at 11 a.m. for third place at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park.

With the setback, Webster, who were the reigning SLIAC Tournament Champions, fell to 6-9 overall, while Principia improved to 8-13 on the season.

Friday's match was a rematch of last Saturday's match in Elsah, Ill., as the Panthers won 5-4 over the Gorloks to secure the No. 2 seed in the SLIAC Tournament. 

Webster appeared poised to win Friday's match as they led 4-2 following a win at No. 5 singles by freshman Navone Armstrong (St. Louis, Mo./McCluer North) over Principia's Dani Lomascolo, 6-1, 6-3, but the Panthers rallied to win the final three singles matches that all went into a third set to pick up the match win.

Principia would pull within 4-3 after Hallie Jones earned a three set win at No. 4 singles over freshman Emma Ferguson (Troy, Mo./Troy Buchanan). Jones won the first set, 6-3, before Ferguson rallied to post a 6-2 win in the second set to force a third set. In the third set, Jones collected a 6-1 win to post the win.

The Panthers then tied the match at 4 after Greer Sprague earned a three set win at No. 3 singles over sophomore Maggie Federhofer (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South). At No. 3 singles, Federhofer picked up a 6-4 win in the first set, before Sprague rallied to win six of the seven games in the second set to force a third set. In the third set, Federhofer seemed to run out of gas as Sprague won 6-0 to pick up its fourth win of the match.

With the match tied, it came down to the No. 6 singles match between Sarah Switzer and freshman Addie Struckman (O'Fallon, Mo./Francis Howell). In that match, Struckman cruised to a 6-1 win in the opening set, before Switzer rallied to earn a 6-2 win in the second set and then Switzer sealed Principia's match win thanks to her 6-0 win in the third set.

The two teams split its first two singles matches as Principia's Paige Cooley picked up back-to-back 6-0 wins at No. 1 singles over senior Sara Rice (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) to even the match at 2-all, before senior Madison Watts (Rogersville, Mo./Logan Rogersville) gave the Gorloks a 3-2 lead in the match following her 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles over Gabby Kitchingman. The win by Watts improved her singles record to 7-0 on the season.

In doubles play, Webster jumped in front 2-1 as they won two of the three doubles matches. In the team's first meeting last Saturday, Webster also won two of the three doubles matches.

Principia's lone doubles win came at the No. 1 spot as Cooley and Kitchingman defeated WU's No. 1 tandem of Rice and Watts, 8-5. 

The Gorloks two doubles wins came at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles as Federhofer and Ferguson picked up an 8-4 win over Sprague and Jones and then Armstrong and Struckman gave Webster a 2-1 lead in the match after their 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles over Lomascolo and Switzer.