WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- UIC won the Horizon League championship with a 4-1 victory over Youngstown State Sunday.
The Flames won a doubles tiebreaker to claim the doubles point, and then won three of the four singles matches played to completion – two in straight sets – for their second consecutive conference title and 19
th overall.
Lucie Prochazkova dominated her opponent, love-and-love to make the team score 2-0 Flames.Â
Nell Arendt finished strong with a 7-5, 6-1 win to put UIC on the brink. The Penguins got back into the match on the #2 singles court, and staved off championship points at #1, but
Ana Jover closed out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win at #4 to set off a celebration over two years in the making.
UIC has won over three times more Horizon League championships than the rest of the current league members combined. After the Flames won every title from 1997 to 2013, Youngstown State captured five straight crowns, the last of which came over UIC in the final. The Flames avenged that loss in 2019, and had to wait to defend their title after the 2020 season and championship were canceled.
The Flames will play in their 17
th NCAA Tournament against an opponent to be announced Monday.
Doubles Highlights
Youngstown State jumped out to a quick advantage with a 6-1 win by Claudia Barboza and Jessica Stanmore over
Nell Arendt and Marina Hermanny de Figueriedo. The Flames evened things up when
Lucie Prochazkova and
Ana Jover closed out a 6-3 win over Lucia Zagar and Cecilia Rosas. The doubles point came down to a closely fought set at #1.Â
Tamara Malazonia and Agnes Gustafson broke serve to go up 3-1. Tamara Teufl and Eliska Masarikova broke serve three times to take a 6-5 lead, but the Flames broke their serve to deadlock the set at 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Malazonia and Gustafson played well early, building a 4-2 lead on their way to a 9-7 win that clinched the doubles point.
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Singles Highlights
Prochazkova made short work of Zagar at #3. Her 6-0, 6-0 win was her third of the season over Zagar. Arendt likewise got out to an early lead, taking four of the first five games in her match at #6 against Barboza. The Penguin fought back, but Arendt held on for a 7-5 win, and then cruised to a 6-1 win in the second set for UIC's third point. YSU got on the board with a win on the #2 court. Gustafson had a brief 2-1 lead in the first set before Rosas rallied to win 6-2. Gustafson cruised to a 6-0 win in the second set, but Rosas won a back-and-forth third set 6-4.
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Jover trailed throughout the first set, keeping it close, but ultimately falling 7-5 to Masarikova at #4. After trailing 3-2 in the second set, Jover began to impose her will. She rallied for a 6-4 win to force a decisive third set, and then had a strong 6-2 win to clinch the championship.
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Malazonia had a chance to give UIC a fourth and clinching point after an easy 6-1 win in her first set at #1. She was up 4-2 and then 5-3 in the second set before Teufl rallied to force a tiebreaker. Malazonia had two match points in the tiebreaker but couldn't convert and lost it 10-8.Â
Georgia Gulin couldn't get a break in her first set at #5 and lost 6-4, but rallied to win the second set by the same score. Gulin led Stanmore 3-1 in the third set at the time the Flames clinched.
Up Next
UIC will play in the NCAA Tournament as the Horizon League's automatic bid winner. The selection show will be Monday at 5:00 pm on NCAA.com.
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