Valparaiso opened the 2009 fall tennis season on Wednesday afternoon, but dropped a 9-0 decision to WayneState at the WSU Courts in Detroit, Mich.

“I thought we played really well for our first match of the year,” head coach Traci Young said.  “Wayne State had already played several times this season.  This was a much better effort than we had against them last year.”

The Warriors opened the match winning all three doubles points.  Sharon Gill and Milena Vuksanovic defeated Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) and Jackie O’Reilly (DePere, Wis./DePere H.S.) 8-1 at the top of the lineup while Jennfer Bradford and Debora Correa downed Stephanie Krebs (Idaho Falls, Idaho/Idaho Falls H.S.) and Jordan Buterbaugh (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Chaparral H.S.) by the same score.  Kristina Goranskaya and McCall Monte added a win and number two doubles 8-4 over Katie Bilyeu (Terre Haute, ind./South Vigo H.S.) and Brittany O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest H.S.).

In singles play, York forced a tie-break for the first set at the fourth spot before falling 7-6 (2), 6-2 against Correa.  Vuksanovic downed Bilyeu 6-4, 6-2 at third singles while Monte defeated Jackie O’Reilly by the same score at the fifth spot.  Goranskaya was a 6-2, 6-4 victor over Buterbaugh at the second spot while Gill defeated Brittany O’Reilly 6-0, 6-0 at the top of the order.  Bradford added a 6-1, 6-0 win against Krebs and sixth singles.

Valparaiso will return to action on Friday afternoon as the Crusaders face Rose-Hullman in Terre Haute, Ind.  First serve is set for 4 p.m. CDT.