The UIC men's tennis team (5-10, 0-5 HL) will finish out the regular season with four matches at home. The first two, against Horizon League for Green Bay (6-7, 3-0 HL) and non-conference rival Chicago State (7-13), will take place this Saturday and Monday, respectively, at the Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts.
On Saturday, UIC Athletics will be hosting a beer garden during the match against Green Bay in conjunction with the women's tennis, softball, and baseball games taking place at the same time. Located between the softball and baseball fields, the beer garden will be open to all fans 21 and older.
The Flames have been away from their home courts for nearly a month, and have yet to play a dual match on campus. Since their last home match, played at Hinsdale Racquet Club on March 18, UIC has dropped four straight road Horizon League contests. Last weekend, they fell to Wright State and Northern Kentucky despite being a doubles match point away from defeating the Raiders.
Marcelo Dib won two singles matches on the weekend, his first two wins in conference play. He and
Carl Hedstrom also won two doubles sets together. The duo is 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the Horizon League, all at the #1 position.
Niko Wasilewicz and
Alvaro de la Fuente teamed up for a doubles win against Northern Kentucky, giving UIC their first doubles point in five conference matches.
Christian San Andres saw his five match singles winning streak come to an end against the Norse. With nine overall wins, and three in the conference, San Andres leads the Flames in both departments.
Green Bay has won three in a row and six of their last eight after an 0-5 start to the season. At Detroit Mercy on April 2, the Phoenix came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the match 4-3 thanks to a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 win by Miles McDowall in the last singles match of the day. McDowall and Matej Kostadinov have four doubles wins to lead the squad, all at the #1 position. Ivan Radomirovic and Charlie Ridout each boast perfect 3-0 records in Horizon League singles play. Joshua Schramm has a team high eight overall singles wins.
Chicago State has won just one of their last five matches, all of which were played away from home. The Cougars are 4-2 in their last six home matches. They played three matches in as many days last weekend in Seattle, where Felix Savard went 3-0 in singles matches. Savard and Christian Gonzalez are tied for the team lead with nine singles victories. Gonzalez and Gonzalo Martinez have picked up a team high 11 doubles wins, doing most of their damage in the #2 slot. Savard has teamed with Jiri Nouza for six wins at #1 doubles.
The Flames played both of their upcoming opponents last season, also in back to back matches. They succumbed to Green Bay, 4-3, before blanking Chicago State 7-0. UIC will look to break an eight match losing streak to the Phoenix. The Flames have not prevailed against Green Bay since 2009. That win was the last of a six match winning streak in the series for the Flames.
