April 19, 2012

MILWAUKEE - In its final road match of the regular season, the UIC women's tennis team (14-3/7-0 HL) was able to come away with a 7-0 win over Milwaukee (12-8/5-2 HL) on Thursday at the Le Club Sports Club for its fourth sweep of the season, all coming against conference opponents. The Flames take their 140th consecutive Horizon League win.

UIC came out strong in doubles and carried over momentum into singles. Taking a straight sweep in their three doubles matches for the first point, they went into singles and took each position in straight-set wins.

Starting off in doubles, Mariya Kovaleva and Haley Craig went up at No. 1 to take the win over Maddy Soule and Christina Colarossi, 8-6. Teona Tsertsvadze and Elisa Simonetti topped Brittany Skemp and Megan Gow, 8-3, at No. 2, as Jana Knoppe and Kathryn Sharples combined for the first time since Jan. 28 at No. 3 to take down Kristin Kurer and Kelly Fritz, 8-5.

On the singles courts, Kovaleva, Simonetti and Knoppe were all able to extend their current win streaks to 10. Kovaleva defeated Soule, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 1, Simonetti came out on top of Fritz, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 4 and Knoppe overpowered Kurer, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 5.

Going up at No. 2 singles, Tsertsvadze was able to capture a 6-3, 6-4 win over Chelsea Bailey. Craig came away with her team-leading 21st victory of the season when she took down Colarossi, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 3, while Sharples rounded out play as she took the No. 6 position over Skemp in a 6-4, 6-2 decision.

The Flames head home to host their final pair of matches of the regular season. On Saturday, UIC honors its four seniors prior to its match with Valparaiso at 10 a.m. (CT) at the Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts. Then they return on Sunday in a non-conference match with No. 75 Akron at 10 a.m. (CT).


UIC 7, Milwaukee 0
Doubles:
1. Kovaleva/Craig (UIC) def. Soule/Colarossi (UWM) - 8-6
2. Tsertsvadze/Simonetti (UIC) def. Skemp/Gow (UWM) - 8-3
3. Knoppe/Sharples (UIC) def. Kurer/Fritz (UWM) - 8-5

Singles:
1. Mariya Kovaleva (UIC) def. Maddy Soule (UWM) - 6-3, 7-5
2. Teona Tsertsvadze (UIC) def. Chelsea Bailey (UWM) - 6-3, 6-4
3. Haley Craig (UIC) def. Christina Colarossi (UWM) - 6-2, 6-2
4. Elisa Simonetti (UIC) def. Kelly Fritz (UWM) - 6-2, 6-3
5. Jana Knoppe (UIC) def. Kristin Kurer (UWM) - 6-1, 6-3
6. Kathryn Sharples (UIC) def. Brittany Skemp (UWM) - 6-4, 6-2