The Valparaiso University tennis team has announced its schedule for the 2023 fall season, which features three home matches and a pair of invitationals prior to the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships and ITA Midwest Regional.

The Beacons will host Holy Cross (Sept. 3, 9 a.m.), Huntington (Sept. 11, 3 p.m.), Purdue Northwest (Sept. 23, 9 a.m.) and Indiana Wesleyan (Sept. 23, 3 p.m.) at The Valpo Tennis Complex this fall. The team will take part in the BGSU Invitational hosted by Bowling Green (Sept. 15-17) and the Illinois State Invitational (Sept. 29 – Oct. 1). The fall culminates with postseason play, as the MVC Individual Championships will be hosted by Missouri State in Springfield, Mo. (Oct. 6-8) and the ITA Midwest Regional will be hosted by Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. (Oct. 12-14).

Head coach Bob Modesto’s team posted its highest winning percentage since 2006 last season and finished with 11 wins for the second straight season, equaling the program’s highest win total since 2007.

“We’re really excited about our returning players,” Modesto said. “They are all playing really well. We have a baseline to build on from last year, and I feel like across the board, everybody is playing better than they were at the end of last season.”

The group of returning players features fifth-year Olivia Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy), senior Mia Bertino (Lockport, Ill. / Joliet Catholic), sophomore Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Houston Tennis Academy) and sophomore Elizabeth Sobieski (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego).

Czerwonka, the 2022 MVC Player of the Year and a Fall 2021 MVC champion in both singles and doubles, finished the season with 63 career singles wins, two shy of tying and three shy of breaking the program record. Silva won the MVC Flight 2 Singles title as a rookie last fall.

“Mia has been playing really well; she has been playing a lot of challenge matches and is at the top of her game,” Modesto said. “We are excited about her senior year. Moira, our defending conference champion, is just on fire. She’s working hard and playing three times per day. We are expecting big things from her this season. We are excited to watch Elizabeth play this year. Olivia is quite simply Olivia; it doesn’t get much better than that. We are excited about all four returners; that’s a good place to be.”

That core will be joined by a trio of newcomers – freshmen Jolene Fernandes (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Lillian Kelly (Fullerton, Calif. / Fullerton Union) plus sophomore transfer Sydney Stone (Brisbane, Australia / Tyler JC). Stone was a junior college All-American last season.

“Sydney is looking really strong,” Modesto said. “We’re excited about our first lefty, Jolene. We feel like Lillian is going to have a great college career. We’re excited about our newcomers this fall and know they will parlay that into the spring.”

The top of the singles lineup will feature Czerwonka and Silva. Bertino and Stone will play in the middle of the lineup, with Sobieski, Fernandes and Kelly comprising the group that rounds out the lineup. Czerwonka/Silva will play No. 1 doubles, Sobieski/Stone at No. 2 and Bertino/Fernandes at No. 3, with Kelly also working into the doubles mix as well.

“Our players are putting in the time and the work this fall,” Modesto said. “We’ve had days with hot temperatures and our players are still committed to coming out and hitting three times per day. It’s not me pushing them to do that, but it’s them doing it on their own. When they call me and ask to get an individual session in, I’m hard pressed to say no when they are motivated and asking for it.”