ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The UIC women's tennis team was unable to fight off the effort of Wright State in the opening round of the Horizon League Championship on Friday as it dropped a 4-2 decision at the Varsity Tennis Center. The loss brings the Flames' season, as well as a seven-match win streak, to an end.

Doubles got the match underway but it was the Raiders who struck first to jump out ahead with the first point. Oana Manole and Bianca Zuzu went up at No. 2 but came out on the losing side of a 6-1 final before Miranda Rodriguez Diaz de Leon and Stefana Vasic fell short in a 6-2 decision at No. 3 to have Wright State clinch the point.

Melika LeBlanc and Rachel Le Comber played out their match at No. 1 and they were able to pull off the 6-1 victory to cap their dominating record of 13-5 at the top position this season.

Le Comber helped UIC quickly answer back and tie the match at 1-1 as she won her 11th straight with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 5 over Vanessa Madrigal, ending her sophomore campaign with a team-best 18-5 record. The Raiders came back in the next match as Zuzu was defeated by Haily Morgan, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 4, but it was Rodriguez Diaz de Leon to find the answer to knot the match again with her eighth straight at No. 6 having taken down Tori Turner, 7-5, 6-0.

With the score sitting at 2-2, the next two points were unfortunately decided by Wright State. LeBlanc was first bested by Elaine Cloern, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 3 before Manole had her set at No. 1 go to Karoline Haller following a tough tiebreaker in a 7-6, 6-3 final that clinched the match. Georgie Sanders went unfinished at No. 2 as she was in the third set against Linsey Verstrepen.

The 2017 season for the Flames capped with a 17-6 record as they won a share of the Horizon League regular season title with an 8-1 record behind the leadership of Coach of the Year Shannon Tully. They tallied a 79-54 record in singles, with a 40-14 mark in league play, and produced a doubles record of 32-23, 14-7 HL. Le Comber (18-5) and Rodriguez Diaz de Leon (16-7) led UIC in singles while the team of LeBlanc and Le Comber were lights out in doubles going 13-5.

The Flames will lose just one player to graduation next year in Manole as she was named to the All-League First Team in her senior season after collecting eight wins at No. 1 singles and turning out seven doubles victories.