Jeffrey Schorsch (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) carved his name into Valpo's record book Friday with a 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory at No. 1 singles versus Louisville's Alex Gornet, but the 46th-ranked Cardinals escaped with a 4-3 team win over the Crusaders at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Kentucky. Schorsch's triumph represented the 70th of his singles career, a new Valpo men's tennis mark.

Valpo made the host Cardinals sweat all night. Louisville had to rally to capture the doubles point.

Schorsch and Charlie Emhardt (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) collected a 6-2 win at No. 1 over Alex Gornet/Jeffrey Brown. However, Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and George Hedley squared things up by doubling up Dave Bacalla (Skokie, Ill./Niles North)/Garrett Gardner (Poland, Ohio/Poland), 6-3, at No. 2. With the opening point hanging in the balance at No. 3, UL's Courtney Lock and Sean Donohue outlasted Chad Kissell (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) and Kyle Dunn (Fond du Lac, Wis./Fond du Lac), 6-4.

The Cardinals grabbed a 3-0 lead with two consecutive victories to open singles play.

Morin-Kougoucheff downed Bacalla, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 2 before Hedley snuck past Emhardt, 7-6 (2), 6-3, at No. 4.

Gardner got the Crusaders on the scoreboard at No. 5 with a 6-4, 6-4 dismissal of Michael Quang. However, Brandon Lancaster delivered the clinching point at No. 3 by virtue of his 6-4, 7-6 (6) triumph over Kissell. 

With their match deep in the second set, Schorsch and Gornet played it out. Schorsch took a grueling first set, 7-5. He led throughout the entire second set until Gornet forced it to a tiebreaker. There, Schorsch made history, seizing a 7-3 win in extra time. The victory equaled the 70th of Schorsch's career, surpassing Eric Honert's old high-watermark.  

Dunn rounded out the evening with a 7-5, 5-7, 10-8 win over Lock at No. 6.

Valpo (4-3) will return to Indiana Saturday to face Purdue (7-1) at 4 pm ET/3 pm CT in West Lafayette. Live scoring is available at ValpoAthletics.com courtesy of Purdue Athletics.