CHICAGO (Jan. 17, 2023) – The UIC men's tennis programs starts its 2024 regular season Thursday as the Flames head to the Bluegrass State for matches at Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 18) and Bellarmine (Jan. 19).
Thursday's match will start at 12 p.m. CT at the Greg Adams Tennis Center Live stats are available
here. Friday's competition will commence at 12:30 p.m. CT from the Eddie Weber Tennis Complex in Louisville, Ky.
SCOUTING EASTERN KENTUCKY
- The Colonels come into Thursday's match with a 1-1 record. The team defeated Xavier 4-3 in its season opener before falling to No. 11 Kentucky 7-0 on Jan. 15.
- On Wednesday the ASUN named EKU junior Moritz Mayer its Men's Tennis Player of the Week.
- Last season EKU went 4-19 overall with a 1-7 record in ASUN play.
- Thursday's competition is the first match between the two programs.
SCOUTING BELLARMINE
- The Knights open their 2024 season Wednesday at Louisville. Bellarmine's match against the Flames will be its first home contest of the season.
- In 2023 Bellarmine finished 14-10 and 6-2 in ASUN play. The Knights lost in the quarterfinals of the ASUN Men's Tennis Championship.
- Though Saturday's match marks UIC's first regular season match against Bellarmine, the Flames competed at the Bellarmine Invitational this past October.
FALL SEASON RECAP
- The Flames competed in four events from mid-September through early November during the fall portion of their season.
- Following a strong showing at the River Forest Invitational to open the fall, UIC participated at the Bellarmine Invitational, the ITA Midwest Regional and the MAC Indoors.
MEET THE FLAMES
- UIC will have eight student-athletes competing on the 2024 squad.
- Returning from UIC's 2023 team are reigning Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year Aleksa Bucan (Belgrade, Serbia/Arkansas), Elliott Dam (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley), Artem Iermolov (Las Vegas, Nev./Clark) and Gustavo Schwebel (Salvador, Brazil/Colegio Antonio Vieira).
- New to the Flames this season are transfers Edoardo Bottino (Genoa, Italy/Queens University), Randy Wilson (Miami, Fla./Florida Gulf Coast) and Robinson Le Meur (Evreaux, France/Sciences Po Bordeaux) and freshman Mihailo Savic (Smederevska Palanka, Serbia/Sportska Gimnazija).
YEAR TWO UNDER COACH PARLIC
- The 2024 season marks UIC's second season under head coach Jovan Parlic.
- In his first season leading the Flames, Coach Parlic led UIC to the No. 2 seed and a 3-2 record in Southland Conference play. Under his tutelage, the conference named Aleksa Bucan its Newcomer of the Year and a member of its All-Conference First Team.
- Parlic arrived in Chicago after serving as an assistant coach at Arkansas and Colorado.
- He competed collegiately at Arkansas from 2011-15.
NEW YEAR, NEW CONFERENCE
- The Flames will be joining the Mid-American Conference as an affiliate member starting this season.
- UIC will be one of six MAC programs competing in men's tennis, along with Ball State, Buffalo, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Western Michigan.
- Four of the other five programs in the MAC are less than a four-hour drive from Chicago.
- The Flames join Northern Illinois as the second program from the Prairie State to compete in men's tennis in the MAC.
- UIC competed as an affiliate member in the Southland Conference during the 2022-23 season.
FOLLOW THE FLAMES
- For more information on the UIC men's tennis program, fans are encouraged to visit UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (@UIC_MTEN and @UICFlames) and Instagram (@uic_mten and @uicflames).
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