Friday, April 03, 2009

Hosting Milwaukee indoors at Matchpoint Tennis Club in Griffith, Ind. on Friday afternoon, Valparaiso dropped a 6-1 decision to the Panthers in Horizon League action.

Valpo played solid doubles on the afternoon.  Playing together for the first time, Kim Sajevic (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury H.S.) and Molly Keifer (Richmond, Ind./Richmond H.S.) earned a win for the Brown and Gold at the top of the order, defeating Kari Kastenholz and Kelly Drvaric 8-4.  A pair of freshmen, Katie Bilyeu (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo H.S.) and Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) then won the point in a thrilling tie-break, 9-8 (11) against Jenna Felsher and Karlee Miller at number three doubles.  The Panthers posted an 8-1 victory at the second slot as Ashley Schoneman and Sammi Schoen topped Jenny Schwartz (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora H.S.) and Julie Wingstrom (Dallas Lake, Ind./Westview H.S.).

“Doubles was awesome today,” head coach Traci Young said.  “It was good to bounce back after Wednesday’s match.  We are starting to turn the corner.”

Playing singles first though, Milwaukee (8-7, 3-1 Horizon) won five of the six matches in straight sets to earn the win.  Lindsey Gustafson (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) rallied from a set down at sixth singles to force a super tie-break for the third set against Megan Gow, but came up just short, dropping a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 10-4 decision.  Sajevic also had a hard fought match at the top of the line-up before falling 6-4, 7-6 (6) to Kastenholz.  Drvaric topped Keifer 6-1, 6-2 at the second spot while Schoneman defeated Schwartz 6-4, 6-3 at third singles.  Schoen posted a 6-0, 6-0 win against Bilyeu at number four singles while Felsher topped York 6-1, 6-2 at the fifth spot.

Valparaiso (1-14, 0-4) will head to Dayton, Ohio on Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. CDT match against Wright State.