Valparaiso began play at its final tournament on the fall schedule Friday, competing at the Ball State Fall Invitational on a warm, sunny day at Cardinal Creek Courts in Muncie, Ind.

Aubree Zdanovec (Appleton, Wis./East H.S) earned her first victory of the year in round one of the eighth flight, defeating Kasi Fogle of IPFW 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in what was easily the Crusaders’ match of the day.  She fell in her semifinal match against Rachael Bridegroom of IUPUI 6-1, 6-0.

Megan Barthels (Grand Rapids, Mich./Catholic Central H.S.) fell to Brooke Dennis of IPFW 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the top flight while Kaitlyn Hamel (Lakewood, Colo./Green Mountain H.S.) dropped a 6-2, 6-3 match in the same round of flight number two against Kristel Sanders of Ball State.  Both battled in their consolation draw matches though, falling in match tie-breaks.  Barthels dropped a 3-6, 6-0, 10-3 decision to Claire McNulty of Dayton while Hamel lost 6-0, 4-6, 10-4 to Alisha Cummings of IUPUI

Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) fell in her first match of the day 6-3, 6-1 against Vanessa Whyte of IUPUI in flight three.  In match two, York suffered a 6-0, 6-4 setback to Alex Bastock of Wright State

Michele Fredlake (South Bend, Ind./Saint Joseph’s H.S.) and Lauren Kammerer (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) each suffered 6-0, 6-0 setbacks in their first match at flight four and five respectively.  Fredlake fell by the same score in her second match against Abby Lewis of Wright State while Kammerer suffered a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Jesika Bays of IUPUI.

In the sixth flight, Marcy Huck of IPFW was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Brittany O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest H.S.) to begin the day while Paola Rodriguez of Ball State topped Angelina Goheen (Aurora, Ill./Rosary H.S.) 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the seventh flight.  O’Reilly then lost 6-0, 6-0 to Lauren Pickrel of Ball State while Goheen suffered a 6-1, 6-2 setback to Lizzy Clark of Wright State.

Prior to singles play, day one began with the opening round of doubles matches.  Fredlake and Hamel fell 8-4 to a team from Wright State.  York and Barthels dropped an 8-0 match to a duo from Ball State at flight number one while Kristin Zakiewicz (Bristol, Ind./Northridge H.S.) and Goheen fell by the same score in the third flight against Eastern Kentucky.

The final day of play will begin at 8 a.m. CDT on Saturday morning.  The day will consist of the final two rounds of doubles and one more round of singles action.