The Valparaiso University tennis team extended its winning streak to four and remained undefeated at home by dominating North Dakota 6-1 on Saturday afternoon at The Courts of Northwest Indiana. The Beacons have won seven of their eight dual matches this season.

How It Happened

• All three doubles matches were tightly contested, and North Dakota won the first match that went final by prevailing 6-4 at No. 3.
• Valpo stayed alive for the doubles point when the No. 1 tandem of Olivia Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy) and Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Houston Tennis Academy) eked out a 7-5 win over Sapir Sela and Andrea Jansson.
• The Beacons pulled out the doubles point as Amanda Tabanera (Valencia, Calif. / Valencia) and Elizabeth Sobieski (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego) edged Nore Heinitz and Ryah Kauders 7-6(3) on a tiebreak at No. 2.
• Czerwonka cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Sela at No. 1 singles, while Sobieski also enjoyed a quick victory at No. 6, prevailing 6-4, 6-2 to build the team lead to 3-0.
• Valpo clinched the win when Demi Jhaveri (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake) secured a 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 3.
• Tabanera also recorded a straight-set win at No. 4, winning her match 6-4, 6-3. At No. 5 singles, Chapman was a 7-6(6), 6-3 winner, while the Hawks only singles victory of the day came at No. 2.

Inside the Match

• The 6-1 win came over a North Dakota team that fell in a 4-3 nail-biter to UIC on Feb. 11. UIC received three first-place votes in the MVC preseason poll and is projected to finish toward the top of The Valley standings.
• North Dakota was picked to finish third of eight in the Summit League preseason poll.
• Czerwonka’s win came over Sela, who was named to the All-Summit League Team each of the last two seasons.
• Jhaveri defeated Nore Heinitz, who was on the Summit League “Preseason Players to Watch” list.
• Czerwonka picked up her 56^th career doubles win, moving into sole possession of second in program history by surpassing Mara Sonkin’s (2000-2004) career total of 55. She now trails only her older sister Claire, who owns the program record for career doubles wins with 72.
• Czerwonka increased her career singles win accumulation to 58 and improved to 12-2 this season including 8-0 in dual matches. With Saturday’s win, Czerwonka surpassed her sister Claire on the program’s career singles wins list. She moved into a tie for third in program history, joining Mara Sonkin (2000-2004) and Christina Scala (2000-2004).
• Tabanera joined the program’s all-time top 10 in career singles victories by notching her 45^th on Saturday. She joins Monika Danko (2001-2005) in a tie for 10^th.
• At 7-1 through eight matches, this marks Valpo’s best record at this point in the season in over a quarter of a century.
• This is Valpo’s second four-match winning streak in the last three years as the Brown & Gold also rapped off four straight in 2021 against Wayne State, NIU, Chicago State and Oakland. Prior to that, the program had not had a four-match winning streak since April 2007.

Up Next

The Beacons (7-1) will look to continue the winning streak when the spring trip begins on Monday, March 13 vs. Skidmore in Orlando, Fla.