­­SPRINGFIELD, IL --- After defeating William Jewell 8-1 on Friday, the Prairie Stars dropped a hard fought match against Findlay 6-3 before finishing their four-team tournament with an 8-1 win over Lewis and Clark. UIS improved to 9-5 after the weekend.

ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 8, WILLIAM JEWELL 1
In the opening match, UIS swept doubles play, as Cole Buehnerkemper and Logan Burgess Hayes opened with a decisive 8-2 victory. Santiago Pedraza and Sam Clarke won a 9-8 thriller before Ajay Bandreddy and Grant Fitzsimmons won 8-6 to sweep the series.

In singles play, Buehnerkemper won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3 before Clarke swept the second spot, 6-3, 6-3. Burgess Hayes dominated in the third spot and Pedraza pulled out a win at number four. Bandreddy closed out the 8-1 victory by winning 7-5, 6-1.

FINDLAY 6, ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 3
In what was the most competitive match of the weekend, the Prairie Stars fell in a gritty match 6-3 to Findlay, who had the 18^th ranked player in the region. To begin doubles, Buehnerkemper and Burgess Hayes were defeated 8-4 in the top spot by John Kidd (18^th) and Oriol Ferrer. Clark and Pedraza picked up the doubles victory with a grind it out 9-7 win before Fitzsimmons and Bandreddy fell 8-4.

To open singles play, Buehnerkemper took #18 Kidd to three sets. After falling 6-3 in the opening set, Buehnerkemper kept the match going with a 7-6 second set win before falling 10-6 in the final set. Clark, playing in the two spot, also fell in a three-set thriller, falling 6-4 before coming back for a 6-2 win in the second set. In the final set, Clarke fell 10-2.

Burgess Hayes and Fitzsimmons each won in straight sets to pick up the second and third victories for UIS.

ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 8, LEWIS AND CLARK 1
In the final match of the weekend, the Prairie Stars dismantled Lewis and Clark, winning 8-1 to close out the weekend. UIS swept doubles play, winning 8-0, 8-2, 8-1, led by Buehnerkemper and Burgess Hayes.

Singles was much of the same as no match went three sets and only one match was taken to more than 6-3.
The Prairie Stars have now won three of their last six matches and will host Quincy and Illinois College for a home match on Wednesday for midweek non-conference matches .