The Valparaiso University tennis team dropped Sunday’s match 5-2 to UIC at The Courts of Northwest Indiana, but the match came down to the wire and was closer than the 5-2 final would indicate. The Flames won on five of the six singles courts, but three of those UIC victories and four singles matches in total required a third set.

How It Happened

• Valpo started the match in style by taking the doubles point as Olivia Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy) and Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Houston Tennis Academy) teamed up for a 6-3 win over Agnes Gustafsson and Ana Jover to clinch the point. That came after Amanda Tabanera (Valencia, Calif. / Valencia) and Elizabeth Sobieski (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego) had achieved their goal at No. 2, besting the UIC tandem 6-2.
• UIC won in straight sets at No. 2 and No. 3, but the four remaining singles matches went the distance and Valpo needed to win three of the four to take the match.
• In all four of the matches that went three sets, the Beacons won the opening set and the Flames came back to take Set 2. Mia Bertino (Lockport, Ill. / Joliet Catholic) defeated Paula Rodriguez in her third set at No. 6 singles, capturing the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
• The other three matches all went the UIC way, with the Flames taking three-set wins at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5.

Inside the Match

• Bertino upped her season singles win total to 15 and her career mark to 36.
• Czerwonka and Silva picked up their 15^th doubles win of the year, one away from climbing into the top 10 on the program’s single-season doubles wins list.
• The doubles win for Czerwonka was the 60^th of her career. That ranks second in program history behind only her sister Claire (72).
• UIC was picked third of nine in the MVC preseason poll and hauled in three of the nine first-place votes.
• Czerwonka and Silva beat a pair that featured Gustafsson, the Horizon League Player of the Year last season.

Up Next

The Beacons (10-5, 0-3) will hit the road for its Iowa swing this coming weekend. The Beacons will visit UNI on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Cedar Falls, Iowa.