CHICAGO – The UIC women's tennis team (9-4) will open conference play with the best record in the Horizon League as it heads out to Ohio for a pair of matches with Youngstown State (6-7) and Cleveland State (6-8). The Flames will go up against the Penguins Friday night at 5 p.m. CT at Boardman Tennis Center in Youngstown before heading to Cleveland for a 1 p.m. match Saturday against the Vikings at Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion.
 
UIC was selected to finish as the runner up in the Horizon League Preseason Poll after it tallied 70 points and four first-place votes just behind reigning champion Youngstown State's 72 points and four top votes.
 
The Flames have gone 7-2 over their last nine matches, including their most recent pair of victories over Lipcomb, 4-2, and Butler, 4-0, while in Nashville, Tenn., last weekend (March 18-19). The doubles point in both matches was awarded to UIC and it went on to rack up six singles wins. Miranda Rodriguez Diaz de Leon was the lone player to collect two straight-set victories in singles as she also picked up a win in doubles.
 
Rachel Le Comber leads the team in singles this season with eight victories, followed by Rodriguez Diaz de Leon with seven and Bianca Zuzu with six. In total, UIC owns 37 wins on the singles courts with its most being record at the No. 6 position with nine.
 
The Flames have been progressively successful in doubles as of late. Le Comber and Melika LeBlanc have made up five of the team's 17 wins on the year while competing at No. 1, while the team of Georgie Sanders and Stefana Vasic have put together four of the wins.
 
Youngstown State hosts its seventh match of the season at Boardman Tennis, where it has gone 3-3. Over the course of the Penguins last eight matches, they have turned out a record of 2-6. YSU's 40 wins in singles this season have been primarily contributed by Noelly Nsimba and Sofia Macias with eight apiece, while the doubles team of Macias and Imaan Hassim has been most effective with six of the team's 19 wins.
 
In the all-time series, UIC holds an 18-4 record over the Penguins after last year's split, as the Flames won the regular-season matchup but YSU took the semifinals win in the Horizon League Championship.
 
Cleveland State is 5-1 in matches played at MMTP this season as it has additionally gone 3-1 since the beginning of March. Victoria Bensimon has added a team-high eight wins in singles, followed by Jana Schober with seven, as the team collectively owns 39 victories. Doubles has presented the Vikings with 19 wins, led by the effort of Bensimon and Schober with six.
 
UIC leads in the all-time series with Cleveland State, 22-3, but the Flames will look to snap a streak this weekend as the Vikings three wins have all come in the last three meetings.