The Valparaiso University tennis team will compete for third place at six of the nine positions on Sunday after play continued at Illinois State's Redbird Invitational on Saturday. The Beacons dropped several close semifinal matches and had one win in consolation play on Saturday. Since the discontinuation of the official Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships, this event has served as a de facto championship.
 
How It Happened

• After going 3-0 in doubles on Friday, the Beacons had three doubles teams playing for a spot in their championship matches on Saturday. The No. 1 tandem fell 8-5 to Illinois State, No. 2 fell 8-3 to the Redbirds and No. 3 fell 8-6 to UIC. All three pairs will have a chance to bounce back in their third-place matches on Sunday.
• Sophomore Alexandra Popa (Glenview, Ill. / Glenbrook South) picked up a victory in Flight 2 Singles in the consolation semifinals. She cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Bradley's Compassion Tsai. Popa will play for fifth place on Sunday.
• Senior Jolene Fernandes (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), junior Andrea Delgado (Richmond, Texas / Foster [Dallas Baptist]) and freshman Cathy Beckmann (Indianapolis, Ind. / Bishop Chatard) will all play in third-place matches on Sunday after dropping competitive semifinal matches on Saturday. Fernandes took the second set from Belmont's Mia Jones, but Jones won the decisive third set after she had captured the first set on a tiebreaker. In the fifth flight, Delgado dropped a pair of close sets to UIC's Kristina Tai, while Beckmann also played two close sets but fell to Belmont's Keti Jeladze.

Thoughts from Head Coach James Gleghorn
"We competed well at times, but couldn't get over the hump in several close matches. We will be competing for third-place at six of the nine positions tomorrow, so we are in a positive position overall for the tournament."
 
"I would really like to see us continue our growth as a team and program tomorrow with some sustained momentum across all six matches. We continue to get better as we look toward conference in the spring."
 
Up Next
The event will conclude on Sunday in Normal, Ill.