The Valparaiso University tennis team recognized its senior class on Saturday afternoon at The Courts of Northwest Indiana as Olivia Czerwonka (Kenosha, Wis. / Saint Joseph Catholic Academy), Mia Bertino (Lockport, Ill. / Joliet Catholic) and graduate assistant coach Claire Czerwonka were recognized by head coach Bob Modesto prior to their final home match. Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Houston Tennis Academy) earned a victory at No. 1 Singles in the team’s 6-1 defeat to visiting Murray State, a squad that is undefeated in Missouri Valley Conference play.

How It Happened

• At No. 1 Singles, Silva stormed back from dropping a thrilling first set on a tiebreak 6-7(4) to send the match to a third-set breaker thanks to a 6-3 victory in Set 2. She won a spirited tiebreak 11-9 to capture the victory over Murray State’s Valeria Chaikovskaia.
• The Racers won on all three doubles courts and the remaining five singles courts.
• Several of the other singles matches were tightly-contested. Three of the six total went to third sets and another required a tiebreak to determine Set 2.
• Bertino fell on a third-set breaker 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 at No. 4 against Annika Pschorr. Another extremely close match came at No. 6, where Elizabeth Sobieski (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego) lost to Natalie Slezakova 6-4, 2-6, 13-11.

Inside the Match

• Valpo was playing the first-place team in the league as the Racers improved to 7-0 in MVC action.  
• Silva is already at 33 career singles wins as only a sophomore. She knocked off the No. 1 Singles player from the league’s top team to snatch her 15^th triumph of the season.
• Czerwonka and Bertino played the final home match of their Valpo careers.
• Due to brisk temperatures outdoors, the match was played inside at The Courts of NWI. All 11 home matches this spring were played indoors.

Up Next

The Beacons (10-12, 1-6 MVC) will finish the season on Sunday at 1 p.m. at UIC.