UIC will begin Horizon League play against the defending league champion.  The Flames will host Cleveland State for a pair of matches Saturday and Sunday at the Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts.

UIC has momentum after a 4-3 win over Chicago State in their last match.  The Vikings also bring a winning streak to town, having won their last four.  It will be UIC's first conference match since the 2019 tournament, which saw them advance all the way to the championship match before falling to Cleveland State.

Cleveland State was picked to win the conference again, in the preseason poll of head coaches.  They received all five first-place votes.  UIC was fifth in the poll.  The top four teams will qualify for the Horizon League tournament.

First serve will be at 11:30 am both Saturday and Sunday.

Flames to Watch

• Pelle Strandberg has won two of his last three matches in the #1 singles flight.
• Luiz Dos Santos and Gustavo Schwebel each won in singles play against Chicago State.
• Schwebel and Anthony Nguyen won their doubles match against the Cougars, playing at #1 for the first time.
• Strandberg and Artem Iermolov also won in doubles play last week.

Scouting the Vikings

• Cleveland State enters play with a 7-4 overall record.  They have a win over Butler and two more over Xavier on their record.
• Matthew Terry has stepped up to the #1 singles slot, and has a 5-1 record there.  He is the two-time defending Horizon League Singles Player of the Week.
• Luke Phillips and Maxime Mareschal-Hay have each racked up seven wins in the #2 and #3 singles flights, respectively.
• Cleveland State is 7-1 as a team in #1 doubles play.