Sept. 25, 2000

MACOMB, IL - University of Illinois at Chicago men's tennis coach Chuck Cunningham did not place high expectations upon most of his squad at the Western Illinois singles tournament this past weekend.

UIC, after all, had two players participating in their first collegiate meet and two players facing Division I competition for the first time.

"I realize that it's early in the season," Cunningham said. "This meet was to show us what we need to do and how we can improve on it as the season moves along. I told the players that the results weren't important. It was where their games are at."

The one player that Cunningham could count on was sophomore Nick Bodmer.

Bodmer competed in the Flight A pool and captured the title with a 5-1 record.

"Nick showed that he was in midseason form," Cunningham said. "He won the matches that he was supposed to win and he let one slip away. He was ready to win and compete."

Jon Schmidt also competed in the Flight A pool and finished with a record of 2-4. Other competitors included Wade Clark (Flight B, 0-5), Amol Desai (Flight B, 1-5), Neil Ahluwalia (Flight C, 1-5) and Aaron Apilado (Flight C, 0-6).