Feb. 26, 2012
PEORIA, Ill. - After collecting the doubles point and fighting through tough singles matches, the UIC men's tennis team (0-6) was unable to hold onto Bradley University, as they fell 5-2.
"It was a great team effort," head coach Hans Neufeld said. "We need to close out matches with better decisions in deciding moments. Alan Reifer battled cramps from down 5-3 in the third set to lose a tough third set tiebreaker 9-7. Alex Raa played a tough third set to gain the second point for the Flames."
The first point on the day came through UIC's dominant play in doubles. At No. 1, Rahul Kamath and Alexander Raa combined to defeat Justin Abrams and Juan Diego Cuadrado, 8-2, as the second win for UIC came from Maurizio Feoli and Alan Reifer at No. 2 over Ashton Kalhorn and Eric Nguyen, 8-5.
Of the six singles match-ups, five of them went to three sets. Raa was able to come out on top at the No. 1 position, battling through to take out Kalhorn, 7-5, 1-6, 6-1. James Li fell at No. 2 to Cuadrado in a final of 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2, after making a comeback to take the second set.
At No. 3, Reifer came back in the second after falling in the first, but was unable to claim the third, going down 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7). After taking the first set 4-6 from Hamish Weerasinghe, Feoli fell in the second and third 6-2, 6-1.
Kamath dropped at No. 5 against Michael Davis, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, after coming back in the second. Francisco Pereira closed out singles at No. 6 in a two-set defeat to Arthur Romanet, 6-4, 6-1.
The Flames return to the courts when they travel to Wichita, Kan. to face Wichita and Washburn on March 3 at 10 a.m. (CT) and 7 p.m. (CT), respectively.
Bradley 5, UIC 2
Doubles:
1. Kamath/Raa (UIC) def. Abrams/Cuadrado (BU) - 8-2
2. Feoli/Reifer (UIC) def. Kalhorn/Nguyen (BU) - 8-5
3. Romanet/Weerasinghe (BU) def. Li/Shepardson (UIC) - 8-4
Singles:
1. Alexander Raa (UIC) def. Ashton Kalhorn (BU) - 7-5, 1-6, 6-1
2. Juan Diego Cuadrado (BU) def. James Li (UIC) - 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2
3. Ahmed Albitar (BU) def. Alan Reifer (UIC) - 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7)
4. Hamish Weerasinghe (BU) def. Maurizio Feoli (UIC) - 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
5. Michael Davis (BU) def. Rahul Kamath (UIC) - 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
6. Arthur Romanet (BU) def. Francisco Pereira (UIC) - 6-4, 6-1
