March 5, 2001
Box Score
Chicago, Ill. - The UIC women's tennis team learned the importance of the doubles point this weekend as they improved to 7-6 on the season with 4-3 victories over Southern Illinois and Drake.
"Our doubles does continue to plague us with problems," remarked head coach Mary Dailey. "We managed to win this weekend and with two one-point victories I think it stressed the importance of doubles success to our players."
On Saturday night, the Flames jumped out early on Southern Illinois as the tandems of Nicole Derouin and Ayca Gumuscu (8-5/No. 1) and Karen Liwanpo and Zorica Malesevic (8-6/No. 3) notched victories to put UIC up 1-0.
The Salukis rallied back to take the lead 3-2 after taking singles points in the No. 1, 4 and 6 match. That left Gumuscu and junior Alyson Stalzer on the court needing to pick up wins in order for the Flames to come away victorious.
The duo came through as Stalzer gutted out a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in the No. 5 match over SIU's Rachel Morales while Gumuscu earned a three-set triumph over Alejandra Blanco.
"Alyson and Ayca were the last two out there and with the pressure on they were the ones I wanted out there," commented Dailey. "Aly is a fighter and Ayca just finds a way to win. I thought there was a lot of support from their teammates, though, and just a lot of energy on the court down the stretch. That is what collegiate tennis is all about."
The Flames had a quick turnaround as they took on a tough nosed Drake squad on Saturday afternoon that was playing a person short with only five competitors.
UIC tried to take advantage in singles play, but still found themselves tied with the Bulldogs, 3-3, heading into doubles action.
With Drake defaulting in the No. 3 contest, UIC needed to win just one of the two doubles matches to secure a victory. Derouin and Gumuscu, playing in the No. 1 position, took care of that as they downed Anali de Bruyn and Cynthia Skogerboe 8-5.
With her singles win in the No. 3 spot, Gumsucu improved to 12-7 on the year and has now won her last seven singles affairs.
Dailey's crew now has some time off before returning to the court on Friday, March 23, when they travel to Terra Haute, Ind., to take on Indiana State.
