CHICAGO, Ill. – The UIC women's tennis team (14-5, 5-1 HL) started off its final homestand on a high note as it defeated Milwaukee (8-12, 2-4 HL) Friday afternoon at XS Tennis.
 
The Flames had to work back from dropping the doubles point for the third-straight match. Melika LeBlanc and Rachel Le Comber came up short in their effort at No. 1, 6-1, as the point was then decided at No. 3 where Oana Manole and Georgie Sanders paired up for just the second time and dropped a 6-4 decision.
 
Miranda Rodriguez Diaz de Leon and Bianca Zuzu went unfinished at No. 2 while they were ahead 5-4.
 
It was a back-and-forth battle from that point in singles. Le Comber won her seventh straight with a straight-set 6-2, 6-1 victory over Hayley Marshall at No. 5. The Panthers came back to take the match at No. 3 as LeBlanc fell to Berta Masdevall Masip, 7-5, 6-1.
 
Sanders was able to work back from dropping her second set at No. 2 to post a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over Eszter Zador. UIC then took its first lead of the match as Manole went to three sets with Labina Petrovska at No. 1 and came out on the winning side of a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0 decision. The lead did not last for long as Milwaukee's Alysa Straub secured a three-set battle with Zuzu, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, at No. 4.
 
Knotted at 3-3, it all went down to the match at No. 6 between Rodriguez Diaz de Leon and Nicole Clarke. Clarke came away with the first set tiebreaker before Rodriguez Diaz de Leon made her way back to take the 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 win.
 
UIC will take to the Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts on Saturday to close out the weekend as it will host Green Bay at 10 a.m. CT.