The UIC men's tennis team met the University of Utah in Milwaukee for a neutral, non-conference match Sunday afternoon. The Utes clinched the match on the strength of early straight set singles wins, and held on to take the remaining matches as well to post a 7-0 victory. The Flames dropped to 3-6 on the season, while Utah improved to 11-4 ahead of opening play in the challenging Pac-12.
Carl Hedstrom and
Marcelo Dib opened the match at #1 doubles, and lost their first set of the season, 6-1 to Egbert Weverink and David Micevski. Utah clinched the doubles point when Joe Woolley and Azat Hankuliyev took a 6-3 decision from
Christian San Andres and
Kailash Panchapakesan at #3. Once the doubles competition had been decided,
Niko Wasilewicz and Alvaro de la Fuente's #2 set was called. At the point of interruption, the duo led the two Utes 6-5 and were serving for the set, up 30-0. The Flames had fought back from being down 4-1.
Utah jumped out to early leads in the singles competition and was able to clinch the match with three straight set wins. Woolley took down
Johan Hedstrom, 6-3, 6-0 at #4, and Sierra Santiago soon followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Wasilewicz at #2. The #5 match was next to finish. Weverink earned the Utes' fourth point of the afternoon by virtue of his 6-3, 6-3 victory over San Andres.
The remaining three singles matches would all go Utah's way, but the Flames made things much harder on their counterparts as the match continued. Hedstrom pushed Micevski to the brink in the first set at #1 before the Utahan prevailed, 7-5. Micevski, who entered the weekend with a 9-2 record – with one of his two losses coming to the #1 player in the country – finished Hedstrom off with a 6-2 second set.
Dib faltered in his first set at #3 against Parker McGuiness, 6-2, but rallied to win the second set, 6-3. The tiebreaker was used in place of a full third set, with McGuiness outlasting Dib in a 10-2 decision. At #6, Panchapakesan won the first set 7-5, but lost the second, 6-3, to Slava Shainyan. In a spirited tiebreaker, Panchapakesan came up just short in the 10-7 final.
"Overall it was a great effort in singles," commented head coach
Hans Neufeld. "Our guys hung in there against a Pac-12 squad that has gone toe to toe against some top ranked teams. I was also proud of Alvaro and Niko's comeback in doubles. It was the first time they played together and they showed a lot of toughness out there."
The Flames will return to the courts on Thursday afternoon with a home match against Niagara at XS Tennis.
