The Valparaiso University women’s tennis team suffered a 7-0 setback to Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon at Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion in Cleveland, Ohio. The host Vikings climbed to .500 at 8-8 and boosted their Horizon League record to 2-0, while the Crusaders dropped to 1-11, 0-2 in league play.

How It Happened

• Valpo’s No. 1 doubles tandem of Kathleen Hebble (Sellersburg, Ind. / Silver Creek) and Paige Heuer (Munster, Ind. / Munster) owned a 4-2 lead over Jana Schober and Victoria Bensimon, but that match went unfinished as the Vikings claimed the doubles point by virtue of wins at the other two doubles spots.
• Cleveland State’s Isabella Spindler and Princess Gbadamosi grabbed a 6-1 win over Meg Modesto (Chesterton, Ind. / Chesterton) and Randi Wind (Park Ridge, Ill. / Maine South) at No. 2, while Valpo’s Dao Sysouvanh (Sun Prairie, Wis. / Sun Prairie) and Halle Roach (Libertyville, Ill. / Libertyville) fell to Aleksandra Golawska and Blanche Lenoan by that same score at No. 3.
• The first singles match to finish came at No. 6, as Wind succumbed to Lenoan 6-3, 6-0.
• Golawska built Cleveland State’s lead to 3-0 by putting together a 6-2, 6-0 win over Modesto at No. 3.
• The match-clinching point came at No. 5 singles, as Schober defeated Sysouvanh 6-3, 6-1.
• Freshman Jordan Kopfer (Eagan, Minn. / Eastview) lost to Gbadamosi at No. 4, while Hebble was on the losing end of a 6-3, 6-0 match to Spindler at No. 1. No. 2 singles was the final match to finish, with Heuer falling 6-3, 6-0 to Bensimon.

Next Up

The Crusaders will play their first home Horizon League match of the year and their first home match since March 4 on Saturday. UIC will come to town for a 2 p.m. start. The Flames were picked to finish second in the Horizon League preseason poll, narrowly behind league-favorite Youngstown State. Valpo’s first three league matches are against the teams predicted to finish first through third based on preseason voting of the league’s head coaches.