Valparaiso University women’s tennis freshman Amanda Tabanera (Valencia, Calif. / Valencia) followed up her first career Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week distinction with another victory on Sunday, prevailing at No. 3 singles to provide the bright spot of a 6-1 setback to SIUE at The Courts of Northwest Indiana. The match was closer than the score would indicate with many of the matchups tightly contested.

How It Happened

• SIUE won the No. 1 doubles match 6-3, but the remaining matches came down to the wire. The No. 2 doubles team of Demi Jhaveri (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake) and Isabella Schoolcraft (Bargersville, Ind. / Center Grove) was on the verge of victory, tied 6-6 and leading the tiebreaker 5-0, when play was halted due to the No. 3 doubles match reaching its conclusion.
• Dao Sysouvanh (Sun Prairie, Wis. / Sun Prairie) and Tabanera battled at No. 3 but came up shy in a 7-5 defeat to Maria Thibault and Vanessa Reinicke.
• Four of the six singles matches went to three sets, including Tabanera’s victory over Lara Tupper. The Valpo rookie picked up a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win.
• After the No. 1 and No. 5 singles matches wrapped up in straight sets in SIUE’s favor, Valpo needed to prevail on all four courts that were left in action. The Brown & Gold had won the opening set on all four of those courts, but only Tabanera was able to close out a victory.
• Freshman Olivia Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy) put up a strong battle against Reinicke at No. 2, coming from behind in the second set to force a set tiebreaker. That went the way of the Cougars (7-2), then Reinicke secured the 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 victory by taking Set 3.
• Sysouvanh won her opening set 6-4 at No. 6 before going on to drop the match, while Schoolcraft also registered a set victory 6-4 in Set 1, but dropped the remaining sets of her No. 4 singles match.  

Inside the Match

• Tabanera has won three matches in a row and is 7-2 in dual play. She is 3-0 this spring in matches that require a third set.
• Tabanera’s overall season record is up to 14-7, placing her in the team lead for singles victories. She has won seven of her last 10 matches.

Up Next

Valpo will begin its spring trip on Saturday, Feb. 29 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. The Brown & Gold will play a pair of matches that day, battling host Air Force at 12:30 p.m. CT before playing a neutral-site match against Weber State at 7:30 p.m. CT.