April 24, 2002

Chicago, Ill. - A wise man once said, "practice makes perfect."

An even wiser man took it one step further saying, "practice makes permanent."

The basis of the second adage was to make that point that perfection is nearly impossible to achieve, thus making permanence the next best thing.

The 2001-02 University of Illinois at Chicago women's tennis team has the luxury of making both slogans their squad mottos, as they sit at 7-0 in Horizon League play, winning all 49 games in those seven matches making the Flames as close to perfect as a team can be.

Over the past five years, the UIC women's tennis team has permanently attached itself to the peak of the league mountain, winning five straight league tournament titles. The Flames are now looking for an unprecedented sixth consecutive crown this weekend at the Horizon League Tournament in Indianapolis.

There are three seniors who are now looking to finish their esteemed UIC tennis careers without losing a conference crown, and a fourth senior who arrived on campus in the fall who has seen up close the value of the departing standouts.

Kim Harris, Karen Liwanpo and Alyson Stalzer have endured three coaching changes in four years, remained the finest academic team in the athletic department and haven't lost a conference championship, the epitome of permanent.

"(This year) is an accumulation of four years of unbelievably hard work and eventually it pays off," said Harris. "Every year we continue to get better. A lot of players get to college and they have already reached their potential...and none of us have accepted having a weakness, we have tried to add new shots if we didn't have them, and that makes a big difference."

"We have an awesome group of people on the team, as well as our coach," said Stalzer. "We just don't accept anything less than perfection."

The current prosperity is possible because of those who laid the blueprints of the program, according to Liwanpo.

"When we first came here, we were already on top of the conference in tennis and were successful in academics, and that was established by (former head women's tennis coach) Shanan Fennema," Liwanpo said. "We had girls on the team then that pushed us to keep it that way."

The arrival of Harris, Liwanpo and Stalzer gave UIC a solid nucleus of athletic talent and off-the-field leadership that turned the tennis program into a remarkably stable one, despite the coaching turnover.

Britta Dohmann a newcomer from Germany who happens to be a senior, has witnessed the positive influence of the dynamic trio. Arriving in an unfamiliar habitat, Dohmann needed those around her to aid in her transition, including the three seniors, as well as the rest of the Flames, Nicole Derouin, Ayca Gumuscu and Zorica and Zvjezdana Malesevic.

"They helped me a lot not only on the court, but here at UIC meeting people and figuring out Chicago," said Dohmann. "I didn't have many problems because they were there to help out."

Poised are the seniors, with a laundry list full of accolades winding down their academic and tennis careers.

Once again, the Flames are looking for perfection this weekend, feeling that a league title won't be enough. They want to go out perfect and win each match without losing a game, and make another trip to the NCAA Tournament searching for their first NCAA win.

Perfection these four have achieved, a permanent legacy they will undoubtedly leave.