A commendable season for the Valparaiso University tennis program that featured the team’s highest overall and league win totals since 2007 and the team’s first conference tournament victory since 2006 came to an end on Saturday with a 4-0 semifinal loss to host and Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.

Saturday represented the final collegiate match for senior Isabella Schoolcraft (Bargersville, Ind. / Center Grove) and fifth-year senior Claire Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy), who played an instrumental role in leading the program’s turnaround in recent years. Claire will go down as one of the greatest women’s tennis players in Valpo history.

The season featured junior Olivia Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy) becoming the first Valpo women’s tennis player since 2002 to win conference Player of the Year honors, while her sister Claire was named the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

How It Happened

• Valpo dropped the doubles point, falling at No. 2 and No. 3 with the Czerwonka sisters leading at No. 1 doubles at the time play was halted.
• Drake picked up straight-set wins at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 singles to wrap up the match, which utilized a clinch/clinch format.

Inside the Match

• Olivia finished the season with 22 singles wins, the third most in a single season in program history. The only player above her on the list is Kate Kollarova, who holds the top two spots in the program record book with 29 in 2000-2001 and 23 in 2001-2002.
• Claire and Olivia finished the season with 20 doubles wins, tied with three others (Kate Kollarova 2000-2001, Mara Sonkin 2000-2001 and Whitney Chada 2004-2005) for the program record.
• Amanda Tabanera (Valencia, Calif. / Valencia) accumulated 18 singles wins this year, narrowly outside the program’s all-time top 10 as her total ranks 11^th in program history.
• Claire finished her career with a program-record 72 doubles victories and 57 singles wins, fifth in program history.