The Valparaiso University tennis team opened up the road portion of the spring season, falling 4-0 to Northern Illinois on Saturday in DeKalb, Ill.
 
How It Happened

• The No. 2 doubles team of freshmen Lacey Tanner (Fort Pierce, Fla. / Florida Virtual School) and Brynn Steven (Wichita, Kan. / Bishop Carroll) engaged in a competitive match and was trailing 4-3 when play was halted. The Huskies secured 6-1 victories on each of the other doubles courts.
• Freshman Naomi Lalonde (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) picked up a 7-5 win in the opening set at No. 2 Singles before falling to Irmak Budak 6-4 in the second. The Valpo rookie trailed 4-3 in the third when play was halted.
• The No. 1 Singles match was also tightly played, but junior Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Houston Tennis Academy) came up on the wrong end of a 7-5, 7-6(3) score against Maria Dzemeshkevich. Sophomore Jolene Fernandes (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) dropped a competitive opening set at No. 3 by a 7-5 score before falling 6-2 in the second set.
• The two teams played a clinch-clinch format, so play was halted on the remaining singles courts once the match was clinched.

 
Up Next
Valpo (3-4) will return home to host Marian at 10 a.m. on Sunday at The Courts of Northwest Indiana.