VALPARAISO, Ind. - The IUPUI women's tennis team got singles wins from Meghan Bernard and Sarah Lounsbury, but came up short on the road in its spring opener at Valparaiso on Saturday (Jan. 15), 5-2. 

Lounsbury teamed with Christina Stankovic to start the match with a 6-2 win at No. 3 doubles, but the Beacons captured 6-4 victories at the top two spots to earn the day's initial point at The Courts of NWI. 

In singles play, IUPUI fought and received a win from Bernard at No. 5 over Valpo's Isabella Schoolcraft, 6-3, 6-1. Lounsbury followed with a straight set win at No. 6 over Allison McConnell, 6-2, 6-2. Lounsbury earned her fourth singles win of the season while Bernard improved to a team-best 6-4 on the year.  

"It was great to be back on the court today playing alongside my teammates. There really is nothing like it," Lounsbury said. "I contracted COVID-19 last week and obviously had to go through quarantine, as well as a five day progression to get back into play, so I only had one full day of practice after taking a week-and-a-half off. 

"The goal for our first match for me was to just go out and compete as hard as I can and have fun, so it felt great to go out there and defy the odds by winning both singles and doubles today. I'm proud of my team and how hard they fought today, even though we fell short. We have improved so much collectively, so I'm excited to see that pay off this season and I'm really encouraged by today's match against Valpo, because of all the close matches we had in both singles and doubles."

While Gabrielle Ochalik and Krystal Grubb lost in straight sets in the top two spots in the IUPUI lineup, Samantha Hayward put up an impressive fight at No. 4 before falling to VU's Mia Bertino, 6-3, 7-5. Stankovic dropped her match at No. 3 with the team outcome already in hand, falling to VU's Demi Jhaveri, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7). 

IUPUI will return to action on Sunday (Jan. 16) when the Jaguars face Purdue at 3:00 p.m. at the Schwartz Tennis Center in West Lafayette.