All she does is win: Silva captures Flight 2 singles title | Sports
Valpo Women’s Tennis freshman Moira Silva has had a flawless rookie season, literally. She went her entire first season without losing a match, and has already been crowned a conference champion.
She improved her record to 9-0 and brought home the Flight 2 Singles award from the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Individual Championship on Oct. 9, when she defeated Bradley freshman Mariia Pukhina 6-4, 6-0.
Head coach Bob Modesto was beaming with pride when he talked about Silva’s performance over the weekend of Oct. 7-9
“She’s come in and just done really well, and we’re really excited about it,” Modesto said. “She hasn’t lost a college match yet, and that’s a pretty impressive feat to have accomplished.”
When asked how she prepared for what was easily the biggest match of her tennis career so far, Silva said although she wasn’t feeling super nervous. The support from those around her helped encourage her immensely.
“I didn’t really prepare for the match,” Silva said. “Just knowing that I had a team behind me that would support me no matter what, and knowing that I would go back to a community and college that is very supportive of me, and that I really like, helped a lot.”
This will be the second straight year that the Beacons bring the Flight 2 Singles title home to Valpo, as senior Olivia Czerwonka accomplished the same feat a season ago. Silva accredited a ton of her success to the team’s culture.
“They [the team] are probably half the reason I played how well I played today,” Silva said.
Although the MVC tournament has already come to a successful close for the Beacons, the season is not over just yet.
Coach Modesto and the team have already begun shifting their focus to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships that will take place Oct. 20-22
“It helps [us prepare] by playing as we have, and competing in the tournaments we have so far. We really feel like we are well prepared. So, just working hard and doing the extra things like conditioning, extra hitting and everything else that goes along with it,” Modesto said.
The team is looking forward to the upcoming competition but rather than focusing on the result, they are trying to be process oriented and focus on what they can control.
“Our goal is to just outwork everybody else, and we feel like if we have the talent and we outwork everybody, that will breed success,” Modesto said.
It will be a quick turnaround for the Beacons, as they have just three days (as of Oct. 17) remaining to prepare for regions after the completion of the MVC Championship. However, Coach Modesto isn’t worried in the slightest.
“We really feel like we’re where we need to be,” Modesto said. “We feel really good, and really optimistic. We’re fired up right now.”
This team seems to have a winning aura about them at the moment, and hopefully they can extend this energy into their upcoming matches.
“Just like I think you can get used to losing, you can get used to winning. I’d much rather our group get used to winning,” Modesto said.