The Valparaiso University tennis team picked up four doubles wins and three singles victories on Sunday, closing out a successful showing at the Redbird Hidden Duals hosted by Illinois State this weekend in Normal, Ill.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo swept three doubles matches against Bradley, including the top tandem of Alexandra Popa (Glenview, Ill. / Glenbrook South) and Lacey Tanner (Fort Pierce, Fla. / Florida Virtual School) outdoing Ann Hsieh and Compassion Tsai 6-4. The remaining doubles wins were more lopsided, with Brynn Steven (Wichita, Kan. / Bishop Carroll) and Cathy Beckmann (Indianapolis, Ind. / Bishop Chatard) coming up with a 6-2 victory over Jada Iverson/Amber Sharp and Jolene Fernandes (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Andrea Delgado (Richmond, Texas / Foster [Dallas Baptist]) needing just seven games to defeat Denver Johnson/Ruby Tseng 6-1.
• Popa and Tanner had a glowing 2-0 day of doubles as they also picked up a 6-3 victory over Illinois State's Emma Peretti/Vittoria Benedetti. The Redbirds won the other two matches including a 7-6(8) squeaker at No. 3.
• Valpo split the top six singles matches against Butler and won three of seven singles matches against the Bulldogs overall. Four of the seven matches were decided on third-set tiebreaks. Beckmann continued a flawless start to her freshman season by dropping just two games against Laurel Slechter in her 6-1, 6-1 win.
• Steven and Sienna Miles engaged in a tightly-contested match, with Steven rallying from a set down to pull out a 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 win.
• Delgado closed out a strong weekend by also coming from behind to win her match over Lauren Cook 3-6, 6-4, 10-7. Two Beacons were on the wrong end of third-set breakers in a nip-and-tuck hidden dual.  

Inside the Match

• Popa and Tanner's doubles win came over a tandem that included the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and a First Team All-MVC performer in Benedetti. They also beat Bradley's top tandem including two players who won a combined four MVC Doubles Team of the Week awards last season.
• Beckmann improved to 4-0 in singles in her career including a 3-0 weekend in this event.
• Delgado also polished off a 3-0 weekend of singles action, improving to 22-6 in her Valpo career.
• Valpo won nine singles matches over the weekend, three against each opponent (Butler, Bradley and Illinois State). The Beacons were victorious in six doubles matches.

Thoughts from Head Coach James Gleghorn
"Another great day of play for the team, I am really excited the way that we came out and attacked the ball in doubles to open up day two."
 
"Number one doubles picked up a huge victory against Illinois State. We had an opportunity at three doubles to clinch the match and beat last year's conference champions. We had three match points but came up just short."
 
"We rebounded really well and took victories over Bradley and Butler. The types of events will prepare us well for the spring dual match season."
 
"We had an amazing run in the singles against Butler. Brynn and Andrea came back to win matches to clinch victories. So proud of them!"
 
Up Next
The Beacons will head right back to Bloomington-Normal this coming weekend as Valpo competes in the Redbird Invitational starting on Friday, Oct. 2. Since the discontinuation of the MVC Individual Championships, the Redbird Invitational has operated as a de facto league individual championship each fall.