RIVER FOREST, Ill. – The UIC men's tennis team concluded play Sunday at the seventh annual River Forest Collegiate Invitational. All nine Flames competed during the three-day tournament and collectively won 16 matches while playing at the River Forest Tennis Courts and Oak Park Tennis Center.
"I was pleased with the effort on the weekend," said head coach
Hans Neufeld. "It's great to play against a variety of Division I opponents and the freshmen showed me they are ready to compete this year. It gives us a look at where we want to be and what we are working on for the short term to prepare for the Midwest Regionals."
Of the victories, 10 came during singles play in No. 1-7 draws. It was UIC's four freshmen that garnered the most wins with
Johan Hedstrom (No. 3),
Niko Wasilewicz (No. 4),
Christian San Andres (No. 5) and
Kailash Panchapakesan (No. 7C) earning two wins apiece.
Marcelo Dib (No. 2) and
Alvaro De La Fuente (No. 6) picked up the additional two victories.
(Johan) Hedstrom was forced to go to the tiebreaker in both of his wins against South Dakota State's Jonny Higham, 7-6 (1), 6-3), and Saint Louis' Charlie Parry, 6-2, 7-6 (2), to take the consolation side of the bracket.
Wasilewicz came away with a straight-set 6-3, 7-5 win over Northern Illinois' Tom Hjertonsson before he dropped a three-set 6-7 (5), 6-4, 10-7 decision to Southern Illinois' Alex Pozo. He came back in his final match to best DePaul's Christopher Casati, 7-6 (6), 5-7, 11-9, for a third-place finish in his bracket.
San Andres also finished third after ousting SLU's Paarth Dodhiawala, 6-3, 6-3, and responding from a 6-4, 6-2 loss to DePaul's Yahn Gawrit with a 6-1, 6-2 defeat over YSU's Luke Purser.
Panchapakesan dropped a hard-fought battle to YSU's Gabriel Tolesani, 6-1, 1-6, 10-7, and then took a pair of straight-set wins against SDSU's Gustavo Almeida, 6-2, 6-0, and DePaul's Conor O'Meara, 6-4, 6-2.
Dib's win came in a closely-contested match with SLU's Juan Calero in three sets, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 13-11, as De La Fuente came away with a 6-4, 6-1 win over SDSU's Lucas Pereira.
Carl Hedstrom was defeated in all three of his matches while competing in the top singles bracket.
Stefan Lochner and
Nate Campanile additionally could not collect a win in the No. 7 bracket.
In doubles, the Flames came together for six victories. The duo of (Carl) Hedstrom and Wasilewicz had the best performances for UIC as they reached the final of the No. 1 bracket after defeating SDSU's Higham and Emerson Styles, 6-3, and SLU's Juan Calero and David Ferragut, 6-2. However, they came up short in the championship match to SIU's Michal Kianicka and Wilder Pimentel.
Dib and (Johan) Hedstrom responded after a 6-1 loss in their first match in the No. 2 bracket by finishing at the top of consolation following wins over SDSU's Alexander Reinke and Chuck Tang, 6-2, and DePaul's Nathan de Veer and O'Meara, 6-3.
The final wins in doubles came in the No. 3 bracket from Campanile and San Andres, who came back from an opening 6-4 loss to take the consolation brackets with a 6-3 win over Detroit Mercy's Kacper Stelmaszak and Adam Zychowicz and a tiebreaking 7-6 (4) victory against YSU's Matthew Kritzinger and Purser.
De La Fuente and Panchapakesan also teamed up in doubles but were held without a win, as Lochner fell in his three matches while competing alongside Saint Louis' Oscar Pachon.
The Flames will now have a month-long break before they are back in action Oct. 20-24 in Columbus, Ohio, at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional.
