March 4, 2001

Homewood, Ill. - Sophomore Angel Ochoa (Orange, Calif./Orange) had only competed in one tennis match prior to Sunday's meet with Southern Illinois at the Homewood-Flossmoor Racquet Club.

Ochoa, however, did not display any rust as he earned a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Southern Illinois' Jason Moulton to clinch the 4-3 victory for the Flames. The win marks the first time that UIC (4-4) has defeated the Salukis in seven attempts and the first time since 1994 that the Flames are entering spring break with a .500 record.

"There was a lot of pressure on Angel," men's tennis coach Chuck Cunningham said. "The fact that he went through some tough matches last year helped him.

"He really came through today."

The Flames also received victories in singles action from junior Wade Clark (No. 4) and senior Jason Kerr (No. 5). The doubles tandems of Jon Schmidt-Nesar Nayak and Clark and Amol Desai were also winners on Sunday.

"This is a pretty satisfying win," Cunningham said. "This speaks well for the whole group.

"It seems like every week there's a new guys that pulls through for us."

The Flames will travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado on Friday, March 9th to take on the Air Force Academy at 4 PM CT.

UIC 4, Southern Illinois 3
Singles
No. 1 Valentin Epure (SIU) d. Nesar Nayak (UIC), 6-4, 6-3.
No. 2 Alon Savidor (SIU) d. Nick Bodmer (UIC), 6-4, 6-1.
No. 3 Peter Bong (SIU) d. Jon Schmidt (UIC), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
No. 4 Wade Clark (UIC) d. Chris Carpenter (SIU), 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
No. 5 Jason Kerr (UIC) d. Brian Blake (SIU), 6-0, 6-4.
No. 6 Angel Ochoa (UIC) d. Jason Moulton (SIU), 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles
No. 1 Epure/Bong (SIU) d. Kerr/Bodmer (UIC), 8-4.
No. 2 Schmidt/Nayak (UIC) d. Savidor/Carpenter (SIU), 8-6.
No. 3 Clark/Amol Desai (UIC) d. Blake/Moulton (SIU), 8-0.