The Valparaiso University women’s tennis team competed in its first home match of the 2017 season on Saturday afternoon at the Courts of Northwest Indiana. Visiting DePaul came away with a 7-0 victory in the first of nine home matches on the docket for the Crusaders this season.

How It Happened

• The Blue Demons started the match by capturing the doubles point despite the Crusaders winning three games at No. 1. Keisha Clousing and Aspasia Avgeri defeated Kathleen Hebble (Sellersburg, Ind. / Silver Creek) and Paige Heuer (Munster, Ind. / Munster) 6-3, while both of Valpo’s other doubles squads lost 6-1 decisions.
• The tightest singles match of the day came at No. 6, where Randi Wind fell to Florence Abbott 6-1, 6-4.
• Yuliya Shupenia topped Kathleen Hebble at the No. 1 singles spot 6-0, 6-1.
• Heuer fell to Keisha Clousing 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, while Meg Modesto was on the losing end of a 6-1, 6-1 match to Patricia Lancranjan at No. 3.
• Avgeri bested Dao Sysouvanh (Sun Prairie, Wis. / Sun Prairie) 6-0, 6-2, and Marina Cozac got the better of Jordan Kopfer (Eagan, Minn. / Eastview) 6-1, 6-2.

Inside the Match

• DePaul’s Yuliya Shupenia is the No. 87 ranked player in the country. The Gomel, Belarus native was named Big East Player of the Year as a sophomore and has played her way onto the all- Big East team each of the last two seasons.
• The Blue Demons were playing their first match of the season, while the Crusaders dropped to 0-2 with the defeat.
• DePaul went 14-8 overall and 6-0 in the Big East a year ago before falling to Xavier in the Big East championship match.  

Next Up

The Crusaders will return to action on Friday, Feb. 10 for the first of back-to-back matches in Indianapolis. They play the University of Indianapolis at 2 p.m. that day, before clashing with Dayton in a neutral site showdown on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m.