The Valparaiso University tennis team opened the spring portion of the season on Sunday morning, dropping a 4-0 match to visiting SIUE at The Courts of Northwest Indiana as the two teams played a clinch-clinch format. Valpo played shorthanded as the team's usual No. 1 Singles player Moira Silva (Houston, Texas / Westside) was sidelined by an injury. The match was closer than the score would indicate as the unfinished matches in both singles and doubles were all very competitive.
 
How It Happened

• In the No. 1 doubles match, freshman Alexandra Popa (Glenview, Ill. / Glenbrook South) and sophomore Lacey Tanner (Fort Pierce, Fla. / Florida Virtual School) engaged in a tight battle against SIUE's Li/Palioura. The match was on serve throughout, with both teams holding serve and SIUE up 5-4 when the other two doubles matches finished in SIUE's favor and the No. 1 match went unfinished.
• The Cougars picked up straight-set singles wins at No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5, finishing in that order, to clinch the match.
• The other three singles matches were all shaping up to be cliffhangers. Freshman Ana Baron (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point) took the opening set 6-4 at No. 6 and led the second set against SIUE's Mya Bowe at the time play was halted.
• Popa, another freshman, stepped up to the No. 1 Singles spot in the lineup and prevailed in her opening set 6-2 over Margaux Guibal Britt. She trailed the second set 5-3 when the match concluded. Popa's Set 1 victory came over a senior who was a Second Team All-Ohio Valley Conference performer last season.
• The No. 3 Singles match was also competitive, with Jessica Sue Li winning on a tiebreak in the first set over Brynn Steven (Wichita, Kan. / Bishop Carroll) before Steven took the first game of Set 2.

Up Next
The Beacons (4-1) will host Northern Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 4 p.m. at The Courts of Northwest Indiana.