Valparaiso’s women’s tennis team opened play on Friday for day one of the IPFW Mastodon Invitational in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Katie Bilyeu (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo H.S.) earned Valpo’s lone victory in singles play on the afternoon, defeating Kendra Mills of Lewis 6-4, 6-0 in the consolation draw of the number five singles.  Bilyeu had fallen in her opening round 6-0, 6-0 against Yuka Kobayashi of IPFW.

At number one singles, Brittany O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest H.S.) fell 6-2, 6-0 in her opening round against Zsofi Kranczicki of Lewis before dropping a 6-0, 6-1 decision against Emily Lawent of Green Bay.  The second flight saw Jackie O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./DePere H.S.) advance by default in the first round before suffering a 6-1, 6-2 setback against Dora Kotsiou of Evansville in the semifinals.

Kristin Zakeiewicz (Bristol, Ind./Northridge H.S.) played a couple of close contests on Friday in flight number three.  She fell 6-1, 7-5 against Jennifer Bradfield of Green Bay in the first round before losing 7-5, 6-2 against Daniele Haefele of IUPUI in the consolation draw.  Flight four saw Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) also involved in two close decisions.  The junior lost 6-7 (6), 6-4, 10-6 in the opening round against Maria Anderson of Green Bay before dropping a 6-4, 2-6, 10-3 match in the consolation draw against Megan Gow of Milwaukee.

Bilyeu also earned a doubles in on Friday, as she and Zakiewicz defeated Green Bay’s Anderson and Julia Kedrzyski 8-6 in the first round of flight three.  The duo fell 8-5 to Jessica Bays and Alisha Cummings of IUPUI though in the semifinals.

“Katie played really well today,” head coach Traci Young said.  “She won matches in both singles and doubles and was very competitive.”

Jackie O’Reilly and York dropped an 8-2 decision to Evansville’s Kate Chybowski and Dora Kotsiou in the first round of number one doubles.  They then advanced on default in the consolation draw against Lewis.

Brittany O’Reilly played in flight two of doubles, teaming with IPFW’s Frederique Sunstrum.  The duo won 8-4 against Lee Matthews and Daniele Haefele.  They then fell in the semifinals against Alex Forsyth and Caterina Kiefer of IPFW 8-3.

Valparaiso will return to the courts on Saturday morning for one more singles and doubles match each beginning at 8 a.m. CDT in Fort Wayne.