Senior Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Westside) and sophomore Andrea Delgado (Richmond, Texas / Foster [Dallas Baptist]) of the Valparaiso University tennis program will play for championships on Sunday after capturing semifinal victories on Saturday at the Redbird Invitational, hosted by Illinois State in Normal, Ill. This tournament is serving as a de facto Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championship after that event was discontinued prior to this year, with the majority of the tennis-playing members of the conference represented in Central Illinois this weekend.
 
How It Happened

• Silva will play for championship hardware in Flight 1 Singles on Sunday after rolling to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Edit Cosmo of UIC in Saturday's semifinal. Silva will play Murray State's Valeria Chaikovskaia in a big showdown on Sunday.
• In the fifth singles flight, Delgado also punched her ticket to a title match, beating Murray State's Bruna Melato on Saturday. Delgado needed a tiebreak to win the opening set and prevailed in a pair of cliffhangers, 7-6(3), 6-4. She will match up with Bradley's Ruby Tseng in Sunday's final.
• Valpo picked up a pair of doubles wins on Saturday, both in the consolation draw. Delgado teamed up with freshman Alexandra Popa (Glenview, Ill. / Glenbrook South) to dispatch UNI's Mylavarapu/Begic 7-1 on Saturday. They will play a Murray State tandem in the consolation final on Sunday.
• In the fourth doubles flight, junior Jolene Fernandes (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and freshman Ana Baron (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point) took third place by winning an exhilarating match 8-7(6) over Belmont's Grant/Warkentin on Saturday.

Inside the Matches

• Silva earned her 57^th career singles win, climbing into a tie for sixth in program history by joining Claire Czerwonka (2017-2022). Silva's next singles win will move her into a tie for fourth.
• Silva defeated Cosmo, who was a Missouri Valley Conference individual champion at No. 1 doubles last year and earned MVC Freshman of the year honors.
• Delgado's win came over Melato, who was an All-MVC First Team Selection in doubles last season.
• Delgado and Silva both possess perfect 5-0 singles records on the season.                                            

Up Next
The tournament will conclude on championship Sunday.