On Senior Day at Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts, UIC honored its lone senior,
Carl Hedstrom, before its match against Detroit Mercy. Hedstrom logged a doubles and a singles win on the afternoon, but the Flames (6-12, 0-7 HL) fell in a nailbiter, 4-3, in the final Horizon League match of the season.
Hedstrom and Dib led off the afternoon with a 6-4 win at #1 doubles. They tallied four conference doubles wins in seven outings, leading the team. It was Hedstrom's 41
st overall doubles win at UIC, moving him into a tie for eighth place in school history.
Alvaro de la Fuente and Niko Wasliewicz fell in their #2 match, 6-4, and Detroit Mercy (12-12, 5-1 HL) won the doubles point with an identical 6-4 win at #3 over
Johan Hedstrom and
Christian San Andres.
Carl Hedstrom's #1 singles match was first to go final after the senior's convincing 6-2, 6-1 win over Artem Vasheshnikov. After leading by example and taking the Horizon League's toughest shots in the #1 singles flight all year, Hedstrom earned his first conference win. "I was proud of Carl for playing a strong singles and doubles on Senior Day," head coach
Hans Neufeld said. An All-Horizon League first teamer a year ago, Hedstrom picked up the 34
th singles win of his career Saturday.
The Flames grabbed a brief lead when
Johan Hedstrom took out Adam Zychowicz at #5. But Detroit Mercy evened things up at two on a 6-2, 6-2 win at #4 for Kacper Stelmaszak over
Christian San Andres, snapping San Andres' two match winning streak.
The Titans edged ahead by a point after the #6 match was decided in a third set. Chance Conley prevailed over de la Fuente. Dib evened things up once again for the Flames, moving back up to the #3 slot and taking a 6-4, 6-4 win over Nathan Ponton. His sixth win at #3 represents the most for any Flame in one flight.
Everything came down to the #2 court, where Wasilewicz was locked in a battle with Patryk Koscielski. In the end, Koscielski showed why he is undefeated in conference play by toughing out a straight set win, and earned the team victory for Detroit Mercy, 7-6, 7-5.
"We had a good team effort and learning experience today. The tough doubles loss proved costly," Neufeld said. It was just Detroit Mercy's second all-time win over the Flames in 12 meetings. The Flames will return to the Outdoor Courts Sunday evening for a match under the lights against Michigan State. The final match of the season will begin at 7:00 pm.
