Saturday, March 20, 2010

Valparaiso’s women’s tennis team opened Horizon League play on Saturday evening, suffering a 7-0 defeat at the hands of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Green Bay, Wis.

Green Bay (3-8, 1-0 Horizon) opened the day sweeping the doubles point.  Emily Lawent and Lauryn Grimando defeated Brittany O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest H.S.) and Christine Antrobus (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead H.S.) 8-0 at number one while Jennifer Bradfield and Morgan Weuve downed Abby Wright (Sarasota, Fla./Pendleton H.S.) and Katie Bilyeu (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo H.S.) by the same score at two.  Rebecca Nelson and Laura Bartingale downed Jackie O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./DePere H.S.) and Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) 8-4 at the third spot.

The Phoenix also took the six singles matches all in straight sets.  Lawent beat Wright 6-0, 6-4 at the top of the order while Bradford beat Brittany O’Reilly 6-1, 6-0 at the second spot.  Weuve was a 6-2, 6-0 winner against Bilyeu at the third spot while Grimando was a 6-3, 6-0 victor at four against York.  Maria Anderson topped Jackie O’Reilly by the same score at five while Bartingale downed Antrobus 6-0, 6-0 at the bottom of the lineup.

“We played a lot of close games today,” head coach Traci Young said.  “Unfortunately we didn’t win the key points needed to take the games.”

Valparaiso (0-4, 0-1) will return to the courts in Wisconsin on Sunday morning, facing the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Milwaukee.  First serve is set for 8 a.m.