The Valparaiso University women’s tennis team and head coach Bob Modesto have announced plans for a 17-match regular-season schedule during the 2021 spring semester, beginning on Friday, Jan. 29 at Northern Illinois.

The home-heavy schedule will feature 13 dates in Valpo – either indoors at The Courts of Northwest Indiana or outdoors at The Valpo Tennis Complex on campus. The schedule commences with back-to-back road matches against Mid-American Conference opponents, as the season-opening visit to DeKalb will be followed by a trip to Muncie on Jan. 31 to clash with Ball State.

Valpo’s home opener on Feb. 6 vs. Western Michigan begins a lengthy stretch of 10 straight home matches. The Brown & Gold will welcome Butler (Feb. 7,), SIUE (Feb. 17), Milwaukee (Feb. 19), IUPUI (Feb. 21), Toledo (Feb. 27), Wayne State (Feb. 28), Chicago State (March 7), Grand Valley State (March 13) and Lewis (March 28) to Northwest Indiana to close out the nonconference schedule.

The Missouri Valley Conference slate will commence on Easter Weekend in Iowa as Valpo visits UNI (April 2) and Drake (April 3). The final three MVC matches will be at home with the team hosting Missouri State (April 10), Illinois State (April 17) and Bradley (April 18). Missouri State will host the MVC Tournament in Springfield, Mo. beginning on April 23.

In his first season at the helm in 2019-20, Modesto guided his squad to its highest winning percentage since 2006-07, marking the program’s best season in a 13-year span. Despite seeing the spring slate cut short due to COVID-19, his squad matched its highest win total since 2006-07.

In his first season in 2019-20, Modesto oversaw the development of a talented freshman class and the continued progress of Claire Czerwonka, who climbed into the Top 10 in program history in career doubles wins. Claire and her younger sister Olivia teamed up to win an MVC Doubles Team of the Week award, while freshman Amanda Tabanera captured an MVC Singles Player of the Week nod on her way to a team-high 16 victories. Modesto helped his players total a 71-70 (.504) singles record and a 36-32 (.529) doubles mark during his first season in charge.