Valparaiso opened the home portion of the 2009 season on Friday afternoon at Matchpoint Tennis club in triumphant fashion, defeating IUPUI 5-2 for the Crusaders’ first victory of the season.

“It’s good to get the first win of the year,” head coach Jay Adams said.  “Hopefully this will motivate the girls to continue working hard to get more.”

The Crusaders jumped on IUPUI (0-8) from the opening doubles point.  After winning third doubles by default, a pair of freshmen, Katie Bilyeu (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo H.S.) and Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) teamed to post an 8-3 victory over Karlee Rush and Sondra Caputo at the number two spot.  Valpo then completed the doubles sweep at the top spot as Molly Keifer (Richmond, Ind./Richmond H.S.) and Jenny Schwartz (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora H.S.) notched an 8-6 win over Emily Holsapple and Vanessa Carna.

“We did a good job to fight some close matches at doubles,” added Adams.  I was also impressed with the play in singles.  Katie and Stephanie really played well and that’s good to see from the freshman.”

Valpo continued to increase the lead to start singles, winning at the fifth and sixth spots by default, putting the Brown and Gold within one point of the win.  York gave the Crusaders the victory at number four singles, cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Caputo.  Bilyeu added another straight sets victory, her third win of the year, at the third spot in the lineup, posting a 6-1, 6-3 win over Rush.

The Jaguars got on the scoreboard at the number one spot in a super tie-break for the third set.  Holsapple rallied from a set down to defeat Schwartz 4-6, 6-0, 10-8.  The final match of the day saw Carna top Keifer 7-5, 6-2 at number two singles.

Valparaiso (1-3) will remain at home on Sunday afternoon for a 12 p.m. contest against Oakland.  The match will also be held at Matchpoint.