Full results listed below

CHICAGO – The top two singles players both recorded impressive victories for the Northern Illinois University women’s tennis team on Saturday at University of Illinois-Chicago, but the Huskies were unable to douse the Flames and dropped a 5-2 decision at the XS Tennis indoor facility.

For not the first time this season, NIU was led by Adey Osabuohien (Hazel Crest, Ill./Stony Brook) and Cristina Alvarez (Zaragoza, Spain/Cristorey and Sagrado Corazon de Jesus) in the top two singles positions. Osabuohien won her seventh consecutive singles match, rallying from not winning a game in the first set against UIC No. 1 Jackie Altansarnai to take the final two sets by 6-4 scores and the match. And Alvarez improved to 6-2 in singles this season with a straight sets victory at No. 2.

NIU women’s tennis head coach Tanya Gombera praised her victorious Huskies following Saturday’s matchup in the city.

“It’s great to see Adey and Cristina continue to play so well. They are great leaders for our team and their hard work is being rewarded with strong starts to the spring season,” Gombera said of Osabuohien and Alvarez.

However, those were the only two points the Huskies (4-4) would secure against the Flames (4-2) as NIU was forced to settle for taking two out of three dual matches on its recent three-match road swing, which featured wins over Milwaukee and Chicago State the previous two Saturdays. UIC won the doubles point and the No. 3 through No. 6 singles matches to earn five team points and clinch the overall dual victory in the first contest between the Huskies and Flames since 2013.

Now the Huskies will play their first home match in a month next Saturday when Green Bay comes down to the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford for a nonconference dual matchup at 2 p.m. CT.

UIC 5, NIU 2
Singles
No. 1: Adey Osabuohien (NIU) def. Jackie Altansarnai (UIC), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2: Cristina Alvarez (NIU) def. Ann-Sophie Hahn (UIC), 6-4, 6-2
No. 3: Oana Manole (UIC) def. Michelle Erasmus (NIU), 6-4, 7-6
No. 4: Melika LeBlanc (UIC) def. Abigail Dekkinga (NIU), 6-2, 6-3
No. 5: Rachel Le Comber (UIC) def. Evelyn Youel (NIU), 6-3, 6-2
No. 6: Bianca Zuzu (UIC) def. Meghan Montgomerie (NIU), 7-5, 6-1

Doubles
No. 1: Manole/Le Comber (UIC) def. Osabuohien/Alvarez (NIU), 6-3
No. 2: Eramus/Youel (NIU) and Hahn/LeBlanc (UIC) did not finish
No. 3: Jackie Altansarnai/Zuzu (UIC) def. Montgomerie/Dekkinga (NIU), 6-2

--NIU--