The Niagara University men’s and women’s tennis teams will travel to Chicago for matches over Spring Break.
The Purple Eagles men’s team (2-5) will play in three matches in two days. Niagara will play the Illinois-Chicago Flames on Thursday and will play two matches on Friday starting against the University of Chicago followed by Purdue University.
NU is coming off a narrow 4-3 defeat to Wright State on March 2. Francis Nadeau, Josh Wilson and Brent Boleslav all picked up wins in the match. Taylan Ozdemir leads the team with eight singles wins.
Niagara’s first oppnent, the Flames, have lost their last three matches. Christian San Andres leads the team with six singles wins. San Andres and Nico Wasilewicz leads the team with three doubles wins.
Chicago, meanwhile, a NCAA Division III program, is 9-1 on the season and suffered its first loss of the season to No. 2 Emory in its most recent match. Four players have at least 10 wins in singles, led by David Liu (11). Two doubles teams boost double-digit wins – Erik Kerrigan/Ninan Kumar (10-2) and Max Hawkins/Tyler Raclin (11-4).
Purdue has faced five nationally-ranked teams this season, going 1-4 in those matches. The Boilermakers has their three-match win streak halted at No. 37. Indiana on March 5.
The NU women’s team (1-9) will play Illinois-Chicago on Thursday in its lone match of the trip. Stella Peisakhova leads the Purple Eagles with six singles wins. This will be the fifth Horizon League team Niagara will play this season.
The Flames women’s team has won two of their last three matches. UIC has wins over Toledo, Bradley, and Northern Illinois. Rachel Le Comber and Bianca Zuzu share team-high honors with 11 singles wins. Le Comber and doubles partner Stefana Vasic has a team-best 6-4 record.
All WNY is made possible thanks to coffee and sleep deprivation.
We appreciate your readership. We like money, too.
