Firebirds Soar Past Dowling, 7-2

WEST ISLIP, NY – Despite an insufficient lineup that forced UDC to forfeit matches at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles, the Firebirds still cruised past East Coast Conference foe Dowling for a 7-2 victory Saturday afternoon at St. John the Baptist HS.

UDC (7-5, 3-2 ECC) snapped a two match losing skid by winning two of three doubles matches and five of six singles matches.

Seniors Miguel Uzcategui (Electrical Engineering – Valencia, Venezuela/Colegio Sagrado Corazon) and Ike Kiro (Business Management – Milnerton Ridge, South Africa/NJIT) earned a decisive, 8-1 No. 1 doubles victory over David Lembke and Logan Schiff, and freshman Simon Jackermeier (Business Management – Munich, Germany/Theresien-Gymnasium Munich) teamed with senior Carlos Quiroga (Electrical Engineering – Valencia, Venezuela/Maria Montessori) for the first time this season, and they defeated Dowling's Justin Skidmore and Brian Miller at No. 2.

After forfeiting the No. 6 singles match to allow Dowling to tie the match 2-2, the Firebirds rattled off five consecutive singles wins to close out the match. Freshman Drew Stewart (Information Technology – Fort Washington, MD/National Christian Academy), normally the Firebirds' No. 6 singles player, moved up to No. 5, and Quiroga moved up from No. 5 to No. 4 in place of a resting Simon Andersson. Both Stewart and Quiroga were victorious in their respective matches.

Next up is a marquee East Region showdown on the road vs. the No. 3 ranked team in the region, Chestnut Hill. The Griffins are 14-4 this season and have won their last five matches.