Feb. 12, 2011

HINSDALE, Ill.- The UIC men's tennis team gets a spark from captain junior Nate Kirk, and freshman Alan Reifer, but the Flames drop their first match at home against Bradley on Saturday night, 5-2.

"We got to improve on the doubles lineup," said head coach Hans Neufeld. "It feels great though to have Kirk back, and winning his singles match. "Reifer stepped up once again to win his singles match, which was excellent".

Freshman Alexander Raa and junior Dave Robare set the expectations for the Flames in doubles play, defeating BU's Juan Cuadrado and Arthur Romanet in the No. 2 position, 8-2. Bradley won the doubles matchups at No. 1 (8-5) and No. 3 (8-3), taking the doubles point from the Flames.

Reifer leads the team with three singles wins this season, and defeated BU's Justin Abrams in the No. 5 slot in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2. Kirk's first match back with the Flames, was a victory in the No. 4 position over BU's Ashton Kalhorn in a tight one, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 10-8. Raa lost in three sets to BU's Hamish Weerashinghe in the top singles slot, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6.

UIC will travel to Des Moines, Iowa next weekend, taking on Graceland, Saturday, Feb. 19, beginning at 5 p.m. The Flames will face Drake then the next day, start time to begin at 11 a.m. CST.

Bradley 5, UIC 2

Singles:
1. Hamish Weerashinghe (BU) def. Alexander Raa (UIC), 4-6, 6-4, 1-6
2. Eric Nguyen (BU) def. James Li (UIC), 6-3, 6-4
3. Juan Cuadrado (BU) def. Luiz Gonzaga (UIC), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
4. Nate Kirk (UIC) def. Ashton Kalhorn (BU), 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 10-8
5. Alan Reifer (UIC) def. Justin Abrams (BU), 7-5, 6-2
6. Arthur Romanet (BU) def. Nicolas Ospina (UIC), 7-6 (6), 6-1

Doubles:
1.Nguyen/Kalhorn (BU) def. Gonzaga/Kirk (UIC), 8-5
2.Raa/Robare (UIC) def. Cuadrado/Romanet (BU), 8-2
3.Weerasinghe/Abrams (BU) def. Kamath/Oroskar (UIC), 8-3

Order of Finish
Singles: 5, 2, 1, 6, 3, 4
Doubles: 2, 3, 1