With the inside track to Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors hanging in the balance, junior Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Westside) dropped her No. 1 Singles match to UIC's Mayu Ushio in a thriller as the Valparaiso University tennis team closed out the 2025 season with a 7-0 setback to UIC on Friday morning at The Courts of Northwest Indiana. Silva and freshman Lacey Tanner (Fort Pierce, Fla. / Florida Virtual School) teamed up for a victory at No. 1 Doubles.
 
How It Happened

• The Beacons split the two doubles matches that were played, but dropped the doubles point by defaulting at No. 3. The top doubles match saw Silva and Tanner lock up a 6-2 victory over UIC's Mayu Ushio and Dongke Liu. Valpo broke to take a 2-1 lead and then held to make it 3-1 before UIC held to make it 3-2. Valpo won the final three games of the match.
• All eyes were on the No. 1 Singles court, where Silva and Mayu Ushio battled in a match that would likely dictate which player would have the best chance to be voted MVC Player of the Year. Silva entered the match with one league loss and Ushio was undefeated in MVC play.
• Ushio had the first break in the opening set to go up 3-1, but Silva broke right back to put the match back on serve. The Flames also had the second break of the set to go up 5-3 and had an opportunity to serve for the first set, but Silva rallied, winning each of the final four games including two breaks. A massive point at 5-5 helped Silva go up 6-5, then she successfully served for the opening set.
• UIC served first in the second set and the set was on serve through three games, but Ushio won the next four games in succession to capture a 6-1 victory and force a decisive third set.
• Since the team match had already been decided, the players used a third-set tiebreak format. Silva served first and held, then Ushio held on both service points to go up 2-1. Silva split her next two service points and Ushio went up a break at 3-2. UIC held to make it 4-2 at the first switch, then held to make it 5-2 before Silva split to make it 6-3. Ushio held on her next two service points to take a commanding 8-3 lead. It was 9-3 at the second switch, then Ushio polished off a run of five straight points to close out the breaker, winning the match 5-7, 6-1, (10-3).
• The Flames won in straight sets on each of the other four singles courts to close out their 7-1 regular-season MVC record. The Beacons defaulted at No. 6.

Inside the Match

• Silva and Tanner played doubles together for the first time this season. Silva garnered her 10^th doubles win of the year and the 42^nd of her career. She moved into sole possession of 10^th in career program history, snapping a tie with Paige Heuer (2013-2017).
• Silva's tightly-played match came against Ushio, who was an MVC Individual Champion at No. 1 Singles and No. 1 Doubles this past fall.
• Silva finished the season with a 19-7 overall record and 6-2 mark in league play, a massive turnaround from her 1-7 conference record a season ago. Entering her senior season, Silva ranks tied for seventh in program history with 52 career singles wins.