Women’s tennis wins first home match

Miranda Rodriguez Diaz de Leon (left) and Oana Manole celebrate. The Flames beat Green Bay, 7-0, at home Saturday. (Photo: Steve Woltmann)

The women’s tennis team (15-5, 6-1 HL) competed for the first time this season at the Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts and came away with a 7-0 shutout victory over Green Bay (2-13, 0-7 HL) Saturday, marking its third sweep of the season.

The Flames secured doubles with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Rachel Le Comber and Melika LeBlanc collected their 10th win of the season in a 6-1 decision at No. 1. Oana Manole and Stefana Vasic took a 6-4 victory at No. 3 to clinch the point as Bianca Zuzu and Miranda Rodriguez Diaz de Leon went unfinished at No. 2.

In the first four singles matches, the Flames did not allow more than one point in each of set. LeBlanc first defeated Tallie Piaskowski, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 3, then Zuzu took a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 4 over Theresa Tebon. Le Comber won her eighth-straight singles match in a 6-1, 6-1 final at No. 5 against Maria Neff. Rodriguez Diaz de Leon took out Samm Pedersen in a 6-0, 6-1 decision at No. 6.

The final two wins came at the top two positions. Georgie Sanders captured a 6-0, 6-3 win versus Jule-Sophie Hermann at No. 2 before Manole worked back from a second-set loss to take the 6-1, 4-6, 11-9 win at No. 1 against Chiara Berg.

UIC returns to the Flames Outdoor Tennis Courts this weekend to close out the regular season. The Flames host Detroit Mercy at 10 a.m. Saturday for Senior Day, then welcome Oakland for a 10 a.m. matchup Sunday.