CHICAGO – The UIC women's tennis team (5-3) will compete in its first road match in almost four weeks Friday when it heads to Rockford, Ill., to take on Northern Illinois (6-4) at Boylan Tennis Center at noon CT. The Flames will then return home to host Akron (11-2) Saturday at 11 a.m. at Match Point Tennis in Griffith, Ind.
UIC heads into competition after going 1-1 last weekend at Evergreen Racquet and Fitness. The Flames first fell to Kansas State, 7-0, before they pulled off the 4-3 win over Evansville.
Georgie Sanders (No. 2),
Melika LeBlanc (No. 3),
Miranda Rodriguez Diaz de Leon (No. 5) and
Rachel Le Comber (No. 6) came away with wins for UIC, while Rodriguez Diaz de Leon was responsible for clinching the victory over the Purple Aces.
Of the 21 singles wins on the year, Le Comber paces the team with five victories all at the No. 6 position, as Sanders and
Bianca Zuzu follow with four wins apiece. In doubles, UIC has tabbed eight wins while using seven different pairings to acquire three wins at No. 1, one at No. 2 and a leading four at No. 3.
NIU is coming off a pair of losses to SIUE, 4-3, and Marquette, 6-1, after it won five straight against Chicago State, Green Bay, Bradley, Western Illinois and Illinois State. The Huskies have collected 33 singles wins, led by Adey Osabuohien and Raven Neely with six each, and own 15 doubles victories with a team-best six from the duo of Osabuohien and Neely.
In the all-time series, the Flames are 16-9 against NIU and have won the last six straight meetings, including last season's 5-2 win at home.
Akron is riding a 10-match win streak after going a perfect 10-0 during the month of February, including its most recent wins last weekend against Duquesne, 6-1, and Cleveland State, 7-0. The Zips have established 59 wins in singles as Rita Pedroso, Ariadna Blinova, Luisa Echeverry and Karolina Maksimava have at least eight victories. They own 30 wins in doubles with the tandem of Maksimava and Carli Knezevich owning nine.
UIC holds a 1-5 record in the all-time series with Akron after being narrowly edged last season, 4-3. The Flames lone win came in 2012 and was a memorable one as it was the program's first win over a ranked opponent, with the Zips then at No. 75.
