UIC was pushed to the brink by South Dakota State, but got a dramatic three-set win in the final singles match to earn a thrilling 4-3 win Saturday night at Hinsdale Racquet Club.
"Overall a great team win for us today," a happy
Hans Neufeld said. The Flames' coach continued, "We had to shift both our singles and doubles lineup and the guys responded with great poise."
With the match tied at three,
Christian San Andres found himself down a set to Chuck Tang. San Andres roared back to claim the second set 6-2, and the two battled all the way to a tiebreaker with the match hanging in the balance. San Andres pulled out a 7-6 (4) win to give UIC (5-6) a walk-off win over the Jackrabbits (1-14).
Due to a late scratch of
Carl Hedstrom, the Flames had to adjust their lineups on both the singles and doubles sides. The adjusted doubles pairings had little outward effect, as UIC swept the three doubles sets.
Niko Wasilewicz and
Alvaro de la Fuente, playing for the first time at #1, earned a 6-4 win.
"We had a great start to the match with a sweep in doubles. Alvaro and Niko were up for the challenge at one doubles and played wonderful," Neufeld said.
Marcelo Dib, Hedstrom's usual partner at #1, took the court with
Johan Hedstrom for the first time in dual match play and breezed to a 6-3 win. San Andres and
Kailash Panchapakesan likewise won by a 6-3 score in the #3 set. That duo, unaffected by the day's shuffling, has won two straight doubles matchups.
The singles matches were a back and forth affair, placing the team outcome in doubt until the decisive final match. Panchapakesan got things started for UIC with a 6-3, 6-2 win at #4. It was the freshman's first match outside of court 6. The Jackrabbits got on the board in the #6 match when Lucas Pereira took down
William Wale in straight sets.
South Dakota State evened the match at 2-2 after the #2 singles match. Emerson Styles topped Dib, 6-4, 6-2. It was Dib's first match at #2 after anchoring the #3 court for UIC this season, while Styles had previously won five matches at #1.
Wasilewicz put the Flames back in front with a straight sets win on court #1. After eking out a 7-6 (7) win in the first set, he dispatched Jonny Higham 6-3 in the second to claim the victory. On the brink of elimination, South Dakota State stayed alive on court #3.
Johan Hedstrom, playing as high as #3 for the first time, dropped a 6-3, 6-4 match to Marco Castro to set up a winner take all match on court #5.
The Flames' last three team wins all came by a 7-0 score. Neufeld was glad that his team responded in a close match and earned the win. "In singles, we got a great effort from Niko on court 1 and a clinical win from Kailash at four singles," he said. "The man of the match, of course, was Christian, winning 7-6 in the third to clinch the match for us. Such a great win to end the match."
UIC will re-enter Horizon League play next Saturday and Sunday. They will travel to Ohio to face Cleveland State and Youngstown State in the first two of five straight conference matches.
