March 15, 2012

CHICAGO - Coming off of its first win of the season over Washburn on March 3, the UIC men's tennis team (1-7) takes on Olivet Nazarene (5-4) at the Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts on Friday at 4 p.m. (CT), before heading to Madison, Wisc., on Saturday to face Wisconsin at 4 p.m. (CT) at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

Despite falling to No. 62 Wichita State, 6-1, the Flames came back in their second match with Washburn to take the win, 6-1, on March 3. UIC tallied the doubles point in both matches, while capturing a total of five singles victories.

Through the doubles matches, Alexander Raa and Rahul Kamath (No. 1) and Maurizio Feoli and Alan Reifer (No. 2) went 1-1 against their respective opponents, while Scott Shepardson and Nate Kirk combined to defeat both pairs of competitors and go 2-0.

As the Flames were unable to tally a singles win against the Shockers, they came away with five over the Ichabods. James Li and Kirk recorded their respective wins in straight sets, while Raa, Reifer and Feoli went to three sets apiece. Li competed at No. 2 to come out with a 6-4, 6-4 victory, as Kirk finished at No. 5 in a 7-5, 6-2 decision.

Raa went up at No. 1 to take out his opponent 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-2, with Reifer dropping coming back at No. 3 to win 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2). Feoli dropped his first set, but fought back to take No. 4 in a 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 decision.

In facing Olivet Nazarene during the 2010-11 season, UIC defeated the Tigers on its home courts in a 5-2 final. When going up against Wisconsin during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, the Badgers have defeated the Flames in both matches at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.