The Valparaiso University tennis team wasted no time earning its first Missouri Valley Conference award of the season, as sophomore Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Houston Tennis Academy) and fifth-year senior Olivia Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy) were named the Missouri Valley Conference Doubles Team of the Week on Thursday as the league handed out its weekly honors for the first time this year.

Silva and Czerwonka teamed up to top Cleveland State's Bethany Yauch and Sima Heren 6-4 at No. 1 doubles in the team’s lone match of the week on Saturday at The Courts of Northwest Indiana. Yauch and Heren were both All-Horizon League performers last season for a Vikings team that won the league’s regular-season title and is favored to repeat the crown this season. Czerwonka picked up her 70th career doubles win, two shy of her sister Claire’s program record. 

This marked Czerwonka’s 12^th career MVC weekly award. This represented Silva’s third career MVC weekly award as she earned the singles honor on March 22 of last season and was also part of the MVC Doubles Team of the Week on Feb. 15, 2023 alongside Czerwonka.  

The Beacons will hit the road this week to visit SIUE on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Edwardsville, Ill. A link to live scoring for the match is available on ValpoAthletics.com.