Jan. 16, 2011

CHICAGO- The UIC men's tennis team opened the 2011 season with a hard-fought 7-0 dual match loss versus DePaul at the Lakeshore Athletic Club on Saturday night.

In his first collegiate match at the No. 3 singles, James Li lost a heartbreaker tie-breaker in the first set against junior Matija Palinic, 7-6 (4), 6-2. In his first collegiate match, Alan Reifer came close to earning UIC its first point by bowing out to senior Ben Hartment, 6-3, 5-7 (5); who needed a super tie-breaker win to claim the victory in the fifth position and sweep Reifer.

"DePaul is a tough team and I thought we went out and competed very well," said head coach Hans Neufeld. Our play will continue to improve as the season progresses, but today's effort was very encouraging."

The Flames will head north to Evanston, Ill., on Jan. 16 to take on Northwestern at 7 p.m. at the Combe Tennis Center.

DePaul 7, UIC 0
Singles:
No. 1 Sven Kasper def. Alexander Raa 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 George Chanturia def. Luiz Gonzaga 6-1, 7-5
No. 3 Matija Palinic def. James Li 7-6 (4), 6-2
No. 4 Filip Dzanko def. Nicolas Ospina 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 Ben Hartman def. Alan Reifer 6-3, 5-7 (5)
No. 6 Bartosz Jozwiak def. Camilo Giraldo 6-4, 6-4
Order of Finish: 4, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5

Doubles:
No. 1 Bartosz Jozwiak/Sven Kasper def. Luiz Gonzaga/Scott Shepardson 8-2
No. 2 George Chanturia/Matija Palinic def. Alexander Raa/Rahul Kamath 8-4
No. 3 Filip Dzanko/Ben Hartman def. Gautham Oroskar/Alan Reifer 8-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1