Box Score Playing the final day of the River Forest Collegiate Invitational, UIC earned five wins in singles play in the tournament's final round.  Freshman Pelle Strandberg competed for a championship and settled for second place.  Fellow frosh Anthony Nguyen, along with junior Johan Hedstrom, each took third place.  Senior Alvaro de la Fuente went undefeated in a round-robin group.

"Getting five singles wins today was a positive way to cap the weekend," head coach Hans Neufeld said.  "It was a grueling tournament in the heat and our guys played well.  Our upperclassmen set a good example and our newcomers played well in their first collegiate matches."

Singles – Final Round

• Niko Wasilewicz ran into a formidable opponent in the fifth place match of the #1 draw, falling to Northern Illinois' Kris Ortega, 6-4, 6-3.
• Johan Hedstrom was victorious in his third place match at #2, taking down Joao Mendonca Garreto of Youngstown State, 6-2, 6-3.
• Pelle Strandberg got to the championship match in his #3 bracket by virtue of two third-set tiebreaker wins.  Playing a fresher David Pata (Northern Illinois), who had two straight-set wins in the first two rounds, Strandberg succumbed, 6-0, 6-0.
• In the #4 draw, Kasper Parlklo was taken down by Detroit Mercy's Gvidas Motuzas, 6-0, 6-1, in the third place match.
• Kailash Panchapakesan, playing the fifth place match at #5, had a strong start but couldn't pull out the tiebreaker against Eastern Illinois' Braden Davis, 0-6, 6-2, (10-6).
• Anthony Nguyen showed remarkable poise for a freshman in winning two tiebreakers.  He took third place in the #6 draw, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), over Detroit Mercy's Adam Zychowicz.
• The Flames dominated the final round in the #7 bracket, which featured pre-determined pairings.  William Wale took down Valparaiso's Nick Marino, 6-4, 7-5 in Group A.  Piotr Lada moved into Group C and won a battle with Lucas Meneguim out of Eastern Illinois, 6-3, 3-6, (10-5).  And Alvaro de la Fuente completed an undefeated weekend by finishing off Mena Morcos (Detroit Mercy), 6-0, 6-3.

Up Next

• The USTA/ITA Midwest Regional is next on the Flames' fall docket.
• The tournament will start Wednesday, October 17 at Notre Dame.
• Those players who qualify, based on ITA rankings, will be seeded in the singles and doubles brackets.