Saturday, March 25, 2006

Rachel Janssen (Fort Wayne, Ind./Dwenger H.S.) posted a victory at number one singles for Valparaiso but it was the only point the Crusaders could earn on Saturday as the Brown and Gold dropped a 6-1 decision to Illinois State in Bloomington, Ill.

Janssen posted a 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 win over Katri Miller to improve her singles mark to 7-9 on the season.

The Redbirds won the other singles matches all in straight sets. Veronique Parke-Beda defeated Jill Dierberg (Saint Louis, Mo./Lutheran South H.S.) 6-1, 6-3 at second singles while Emilie Sechaud downed Whitney Chada (Downers Grove, Ill./North H.S.) 6-0, 6-1 at the third spot. Kate Evangelist (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West H.S.) fell to Carolyne Parent 6-1, 6-1 at the fourth spot while Nicole Schneider downed Charmaine Stanislaw (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville H.S.) 6-1, 6-1 at five singles. Matea Simovic defeated Kim Sajevic (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury H.S.) 6-3, 6-1 at the bottom of the order.

Illinois State (3-3) opened play winning all three doubles matches. Miller and Schneider downed Janssen and Jenny Schwartz (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora H.S.) 8-3 at the top while Parke-Beda and Maxwell defeated Chada and Evangelist 8-5 at second doubles. Parent and Sechaud were 8-1 winners over Dierberg and Stanislaw.

Valparaiso (4-6) will return to the courts on April 3 for their only home contest of the regular season. The Crusaders will face IPFW at 3 p.m. at the new Valparaiso University Tennis Complex.