Feb. 26, 2001

Box Score

The UIC women's tennis team may have won just one contest during its three-match road trip last weekend, but they claimed victory in the most important one as they downed Butler, 5-2, to set the tone for a fifth-straight Midwestern Collegiate Conference title.

Elsewhere this weekend, the Flames dropped a 5-2 decision to Ball State on Thursday, then stumbled in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday, falling 5-2 to the Bearcats.

"Our doubles really struggled all weekend," remarked head coach Mary Dailey whose doubles teams went a combined 3-6 during the trip. " I thought the whole team really picked things up in singles play, though, in the match at Butler and that was big. Versus Ball State, we could have won, but they were the better team. And against Cincinnati, it seemed we were all down a set before we woke up and started playing."

On Thursday, the Flames dropped the doubles point, then were able to only take two of the six singles matches as they fell to the Cardinals. Ayca Gumuscu (6-4, 6-2/No. 3) and Alyson Stalzer (6-4, 6-2/No. 5) were both victorious for UIC.

In the Flames' MCC opener versus Butler, the team, once again fell behind early as they lost the doubles points to go down 1-0. This time, though, UIC rebounded in singles action as they swept the No. 1-5 singles contests for the 5-2 final score. Stalzer, who triumphed 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 5 match continued to roll as she improved to 7-1 on the spring.

UIC could not make it back-to-back wins on Saturday as Cincinnati bested the Flames, 5-2. UIC dropped the doubles point for the third-straight match, then only got wins out of Ayca Gumuscu (0-6, 7-6, 6-1/No. 3), who has won her last five matches and Zvjezdana Malesevic (2-6, 6-0, 6-4/No. 4) in the loss.

The Flames, who are now 5-6 on the year, will look to get back to the .500 mark this weekend as they take on Southern Illinois on Saturday and Drake on Sunday with both matches being played at the Oak Park Tennis and Fitness Club.