CLEVELAND (Feb 20, 2024) – The Mid-American Conference named UIC men's tennis senior
Aleksa Bucan (Belgrade, Serbia/Arkansas) its Singles Player of the Week Tuesday afternoon.
Bucan is the second Flames men's tennis student-athlete to receive a weekly conference honor from the MAC in the last three weeks. The conference named sophomore
Robinson Le Meur (Evreux, France/Sciences Po Bordeaux)
its Singles Player of the Week Feb. 6.
"I'm very excited to be named the MAC Singles Player of the Week," Bucan said. "It's a great honor but for our team the main goal is to win the conference tournament in April."
"Our program is proud of Aleksa, this is a really good accomplishment for him," said head coach
Jovan Parlic. "He played really hard in our two matches last week. He clinched the match for our program against Cleveland State and got us into a good position to be successful in our match against Duquesne."
Bucan went 2-0 for the Flames at the No. 2 singles position this past weekend to help UIC to road victories at Cleveland State and at Duquesne. Against Cleveland State on Friday, after splitting the first two sets at, Bucan pulled away in the third set to come away with a hard-fought three-set victory over CSU's Lincoln Battle, serving his opponent his first loss of the 2024 season. The match victory clinched the Flames the win over the Vikings. In Saturday's match at Duquesne, Bucan made quick work of his opponent, winning 6-1 in both sets to come away with his third win in a row.
The senior is tied for the team-lead with six singles wins on the season and is currently on a three-match win streak at No. 2 singles.
Tuesday's honor is Bucan's second weekly conference award during his UIC career. Last season the Southland Conference named the senior its Singles Player of the Week for the week of April 18.
Bucan and the Flames are off until March 1 when they travel up to Milwaukee to take on Marquette. The Golden Eagles are 2-6 on the season and just stopped a six-match losing streak. The program has two matches before facing the Flames. The team takes on North Dakota (Feb. 23) and Montana (Feb. 24). Last season the Flames came away with a 4-1 victory over the Golden Eagles in Milwaukee. Marquette holds a 14-2 advantage in the series history.
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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