The Valparaiso University tennis team pushed defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Drake to its limits on Saturday afternoon at The Courts of Northwest Indiana, but the visiting Bulldogs escaped with a 4-3 victory in the Valley opener for the Beacons. Valpo prevailed on three singles courts and one doubles court.

How It Happened

• What proved to be a pivotal doubles point went to the Bulldogs by virtue of wins at No. 2 and No. 3. The last doubles match standing occurred at No. 1 and was played to its completion with Olivia and Claire Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy) earning a 6-4 victory over Liza Petushkova and Daria Walczak. The sisters broke each of Drake’s first two serves and held an early 3-1 lead before trading service points for the remainder of the match. Valpo served for the match leading 5-4 and didn’t drop a single point in the final game to solidify the 6-4 triumph.
• Drake owned a commanding 3-0 lead in the team score after winning each of the first two singles matches to finish – No. 1 and No. 5. However, each of the next two players to clinch victories were Beacons – Claire at No. 2 and Mia Bertino (Lockport, Ill. / Joliet Catholic) at No. 6.
• Claire was up 3-2 in Set 1 through five games with the set on serve before she earned a break against Drake’s Ines Stephani to take a 4-2 advantage. The two players exchanged holds to advance the score to 5-3, then Claire served for the set and converted to take Set 1 6-3. In the second set, Claire went up a break early but Drake got the set back on serve at 2-2 and eventually 3-3. Claire went up a break at 4-3, then the players traded games and Claire converted on her chance to serve for the match, winning Set 2 6-4.
• On the No. 6 singles court, Bertino rolled to a straight-set triumph over Kelsey Neville 6-3, 6-1. That helped Valpo get to within 3-2 in the team scoring. However, the Bulldogs secured the victory with a win at No. 4 singles.
• The final match in action was a marathon at No. 3 singles. Valpo’s Amanda Tabanera (Valencia, Calif. / Valencia) rebounded from a 6-3 defeat in the first set to win the second set 6-4 to set up a compelling third-set tiebreak against Daria Walczak. Tabanera broke on the first serve to go up 1-0, then converted on both of her serves to make it 3-0. Drake split its serves to advance the score to 4-1, then Drake broke to make it 4-2 as the players switched sides. Tabanera held to up her lead to 5-2, then Drake held twice to cut the deficit to one at 5-4. Tabanera held on both serves in a key sequence to build the lead to 7-4, then Tabanera broke the first Drake serve to make it 8-4. Drake won the next two points to cut the lead to 8-6, but then Tabanera held on her second serve to create match point. Tabanera broke serve on Drake’s first attempt to win the tiebreak and the match 10-6.

Inside the Match

• Drake won the MVC title and made an NCAA Tournament appearance last season. This was the closest Valpo has come to knocking off the Bulldogs since joining The Valley, a large step forward from a 6-1 setback last season.
• Claire and Olivia’s victory over Petushkova and Walczak came against two All-Missouri Valley Conference performers from a year ago as both of those Bulldogs were members of the MVC All-Select Team last season. Tabanera’s singles win came over a reigning MVC All-Select Team performer (Walczak).
• This marked Valpo’s fourth 4-3 match of the season as the Beacons fell to 2-2 in such contests.
• Claire has now won three consecutive singles matches and notched the 55^th singles victory of her career on Saturday. She is in fifth in program history, three away from moving into a tie for third.
• Tabanera is up to 38 career singles wins as she continues to approach a spot in the program record book. Olivia is currently 10^th in program history with 41.
• Claire extended her program record with her 69^th career doubles victory, while Olivia was successful in doubles play for the 42^nd time in her collegiate career, moving into sole possession of ninth in program history by surpassing Paige Heuer (2013-2017, 41).

Up Next

The Beacons (8-9, 0-1 MVC) will hold Senior Day on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. vs. UNI as part of the final home match of the season, which will take place at The Courts of Northwest Indiana.