Jan. 14, 2006

Chicago, Ill.- In a performance that showed how far the UIC men's tennis team has come since head coach Hans Neufeld took over the program, the Flames came within an eyelash of upsetting city rival DePaul in a 4-3 defeat at the Lakeshore Athletic Club late Friday evening.

UIC (0-2) received singles wins from Ivan Kovalev, Andy Lockhart and newcomer Adriano Liccardo, along with a dominating doubles win from the duo of Kovalev and Lockhart.

After getting shutout by the Blue Demons the past two years, the Flames came out firing and ready to pull off a huge non-conference upset of the Big EAST team.

The Flames nearly picked up the point they needed to win on two occasions. In doubles play, the team of Danai Samuriwo and Enrico Kasjan almost scored a huge win at No. 3 doubles before falling 9-7.

In singles action, with the match tied 3-3, it was down to Eric Fey and DePaul's Danny Wilson. Fey took Wilson to the limit in both sets, narrowly falling 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the No. 6 match.

Kovalev dominated the Blue Demons' No. 1 player, George Wang, in a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Lockhart and Liccardo were also impressive in two-set singles wins.

UIC returns to action on Wednesday, January 25th in a road match at Marquette beginning at 4:00 p.m.

DePaul 4, UIC 3SINGLES1. Ivan Kovalev (UIC) def. George Wang (DePaul) 6-4, 6-22. Gabe Inchauste (DePaul) def. Paul Glendenning (UIC) 6-4, 6-13. Jack Komar (DePaul) def. Danai Samuriwo (UIC) 6-2, 6-34. Andy Lockhart (UIC) def. Eric Huffman (DePaul) 6-4, 6-45. Adriano Liccardo (UIC) def. Austin Doerner (DePaul) 6-4, 6-36. Danny Wilson (DePaul) def. Eric Fey (UIC) 7-6(4), 7-6(4)
DOUBLES1. Kovalev/Lockhart (UIC) def. Inchauster/G. Wang (DePaul) 8-22. Huffman/Doerner (DePaul) def. Glendenning/Fey (UIC) 8-43. Wilson/W. Wang (DePaul) def. Samuriwo/Enrico Kasjan (UIC) 9-7