Friday, April 10, 2009

Valparaiso rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the match on Friday afternoon, but Green Bay won the deciding point to defeat the Crusaders 4-3 at the Courts of Northwest Indiana.

Green Bay (5-12, 2-4 Horizon) opened the match winning the doubles point as Lauryn Grimando and Emily Lawent defeated Kim Sajevic (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury H.S.) and Molly Keifer (Richmond, Ind./Richmond H.S.) 8-3 at number one doubles.  Kari Petrashek and Aschley Jurgella downed Katie Bilyeu (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo H.S.) and Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) by the same score at the third spot.  Second doubles was stopped because the point was decided with the Phoenix leading 6-2.

In singles, Green Bay increased its lead to 2-0 as Lawent downed Sajevic 6-2, 6-1 at the top spot.  Jenny Schwartz (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora H.S.) cut the Crusader deficit in half with a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jurgella at the third spot.  The Phoenix retook a two point lead though as Weuve downed Bilyeu 6-2, 6-1 at fourth singles.

Keifer began Valpo’s comeback with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 win at second singles against Stadum, winning the third set tie-break 8-6.  Lindsey Gustafson (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) tied the match at three with her 6-0, 6-3 triumph against Petrashek.  Green Bay’s Grimando won the deciding match at number five singles, though, topping York 6-2, 6-1.

“We continue to play better,” head coach Traci Young said. “We have 10 individual victories since spring break.  Today we had two good three-set wins as well as Lindsey’s straight sets victory.”

Valparaiso (1-17, 0-6) will return to action on Wednesday afternoon as the Crusaders head to Fort Wayne, Ind. to battle IPFW in a 2 p.m. CDT match.