After coming away from their first DIII weekend of winter play with a whopping three wins, the Maroons will be looking to improve their record this weekend with a match against DII Lewis in what is sure to be a test for the No. 12 Maroons.
Chicago defeated No. 28 Denison, No. 32 Oberlin, and Kenyon this weekend in a convincing manner. The Maroons downed the Big Red by a score of 7–2. They were then edged out of a victory by conference rival Case Western. The team suffered its only defeat to the No. 23 Spartans. The squad bounced back to defeat Kenyon and Oberlin by a clear 9–0 margin.
First-year Ariana Iranpour earned the honor of UAA Athlete of the Week after going 8–0 on the weekend. Iranpour did not drop a singles or doubles match in the four games. Her partner and the Maroons’ No. 1 singles player, fourth-year Megan Tang, was also undefeated throughout the weekend.
Despite the weekend having shown the potential of the young Maroon squad, the loss to Case is a firm reminder that the talented squad has a ways to go to fulfill its potential. The weekend proved to have taught Chicago lessons to keep in mind moving forward in the season.
“We’re always looking to play with more confidence and to execute better in the big moments. I think that despite the loss last weekend…the team, and myself included, learned a lot about what it takes to be successful under pressure and we will use that experience moving forward,” said head coach Jay Tee.
The squad will face off against DII Lewis. The Flyers will be competing in their third game of the winter season. Thus far the team is 1–1 on the season with a loss to DI Northern Illinois 1–6 and a victory over Western Illinois 5–2. It is one of the rare teams on Chicago’s schedule that the South Siders do not play on a regular basis.
“Unfortunately we have very little to no history with…Lewis so we don’t know much about them as a team other than [that] they’ve been a historically strong team in Division II,” Tee said.
The squad has a lot to look forward to heading into its remaining games. The team heads to the ITA Indoor Nationals in Greenville, IN the following weekend to face off against some of the best teams in the country.
The match against Lewis begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
