UIC opened play at the River Forest Collegiate Invitational with success in the doubles and singles draws.

Three of the Flames' four doubles teams won their first round matchups on Friday morning.  In the second round, the lone team not to make it into the winners' bracket picked up a win in the consolation bracket.  As the action shifted to the singles draws, six of the team's nine entries advanced to the winners' side heading into Saturday.

"It was a good start to our weekend," head coach Hans Neufeld said.  "It was nice to see the newcomers each get a win.  Pelle showed a lot of heart winning the second set and the tiebreaker.  We need to carry this momentum into tomorrow."

Doubles – Round One

• Number one Niko Wasilewicz and Pelle Strandberg cruised to a 6-2 win over a duo from St. Louis. 
• At #2, freshman Anthony Nguyen and junior transfer Kasper Parlklo fell by a 6-4 score to Northern Illinois. 
• Johan Hedstrom and William Wale took down St. Louis, 6-4, in the #3 draw. 
• At #4, the draw features three pre-determined matchups rather than a true winner-vs.-winner bracket.  Kailash Panchapakesan and Alvaro de la Fuente won their first matchup over Eastern Illinois, 6-2.

Doubles – Round Two

• Unfortunately, the Flames' winners each had a setback in the next round.  Wasilewicz and Strandberg went down, 6-1, to Northern Illinois.
• Hedstrom and Wale were 6-2 victims to Valparaiso.
• Nguyen and Parlklo found redemption with a 6-4 win over St. Louis.
• Panchapakesan and de la Fuente had a second round bye.
• Piotr Lada and his partner from Valpo, who had a first round bye, lost to Northern Illinois, 6-3.

Singles – Round One

• #1: Wasilewicz faltered against Horizon League nemesis Danylo Veremeichuk from Youngstown State, 6-3, 6-3.
• #2: Johan Hedstrom got stronger as his match went on, finishing off a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Eastern Illinois' Logan Charbonneau.
• #3: In a stirring comeback, Strandberg, a freshman, rallied from a set down to defeat Valpo's Franklin Brozovich, 2-6, 7-5, (10-7).
• #4: Parlklo took down EIU's Gage Kingsmith, 6-4, 6-3.
• #5: Panchapakesan drew a familiar opponent in Marquette's Alexander Warstler, who defeated the Flame 6-4, 6-2.
• #6: Nguyen showed determination in his first collegiate singles match, grinding out a 7-6 (7), 2-6, (10-7) win over Victor Spolidorio from NIU.
• #7: The flight features three round-robin groups.  In Group A, Wale had a 6-3, 6-3 win over EIU's Luka Knieling.  Lada, playing in Group B, fell to NIU's Erich Schuette, 6-1, 6-4.  And in Group C, de la Fuente cruised to a late afternoon win over EIU's Lucas Menegium, 6-1, 6-2.

Up Next

• Play continues Saturday starting at 9:00 am.
• The doubles brackets will be concluded, and one more round of singles play will take place.
• The singles placement matches will be on Sunday.