The UIC men's tennis team (0-1) opened the spring portion of the 2016-17 slate with a 6-1 loss at the hands of the DePaul Blue Demons (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Demons finished third in the ultra competitive Big East last season, so head coach Hans Neufeld knew it would be a difficult opening day challenge.  "Overall it was a good team effort.  DePaul is a tough group so this is a nice litmus test for us," he said.

The duo of Carl Hedstrom and Niko Wasliewicz opened the doubles portion of the competition with a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Nathan DeVeer and Alex Galoustian.  Then Marcelo Dib and William Wale took down Fran Tonejc and Chris Casati, 6-2, to set up a rubber match for the doubles point.  DePaul pulled out the match 6-3 as Christian San Andres and Nate Campanile went down to Conor O'Meara and Tim Corwin, and the Blue Demons held a 1-0 lead entering the singles matches.

The Blue Demons took the numbers 1 and 2 singles matches, but not without a fight.  At number 1, Carl Hedstrom dropped the first set to DeVeer 6-4, but evened the match by capturing the second set by the same score.  In the third set, DeVeer took home a 10-3 decision and won the match two sets to one.

In the number 2 singles match, Wasilewicz went down to Galoustian in straight sets but took him to a tiebreaker in the second, ultimately dropping a 6-3, 7-6 match.

Neufeld acknowledged that if a few points had gone differently in the top two singles matches, the Flames could have been much more competitive in the overall matchup.  "Down the lineup everyone played tough," he said.  "This is a young team with a lot of potential – if we can manage pressure situations better, which comes with experience, we're going to get even better."

Dib and Wale could not carry their doubles momentum over to the singles side.  Dib lost to Tonejc in the number 3 match 1-6, 6-4, 10-8; and Wale lost the first singles match of his collegiate career, 6-0, 6-2 to Corwin.

Christian San Andres took home the only point of the match for the Flames.  He took down Casati in number 5 singles with a dramatic comeback after losing the first set, 1-6.  He pushed the second set to a tiebreaker which he won, 7-6, and in a dramatic end to the third set, pulled out a 10-8 victory to win the match.

"I was proud of Christian's win tonight," Neufeld commented, adding that it will be "the first of many in his UIC career."

Alvaro De La Fuente went down to Yahn Gawrit 6-4, 6-2 in number 6 singles to account for the final margin.

The Flames will return to action in less than 24 hours, venturing to Kalamazoo to face the defending MAC champion and NCAA participant Western Michigan Broncos Sunday at noon.