March 26, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team faced another tough day on the court, as they lost the third match in a row to fifth-ranked Illinois.
"We've had three of the best teams in the country all in a row," Purdue head coach Tim Madden said. "Illinois is as good as anyone else out there. They played with complete confidence today, and they refused to come out of their game plan for us."
The Fighting Illini began their day with an 8-6 win at the No. 3 doubles spot. Carl McCafferty and Derek Miller evened the field when they were able to stop Cary Franklin and Graydon Oliver 8-6 at the No. 2 spot. With the lone doubles point at stake, Jason Marshall and Andrew Wakefield were unable to capture a victory over Jeff Laski and Jamal Parker. With the two wins, Illinois headed to singles action with one point.
"In doubles, we try to get the other team to mentally come apart," Madden said. "Illinois just didn't do that today. It was a highly competitive doubles action, but Illinois displayed a stronger will and got the shots."
"In singles, my hope was we could take what we learned in California, and try to get into more pressure situations," Madden said. "Today, we were just unable to get into those types of situations. We only had one match go to a third set."
Singles competition found only one Boilermaker taking his match to a third set. Miller came back from a 6-1 deficit in the first set, to stop him 7-6 in the second. Laski was able to finish the match with a 6-1 victory.
"We are now going to try and focus on trying to remember the hardest part is behind us," Madden said. "We're preparing to meet very good Big Ten teams, but these next few matches won't be against the top ten teams in the nation. We've got to keep our heads up, and stay focused on the positive things we are doing. Although it can't be seen on paper, we have improved in the last couple of weeks."
Illinois 7, Purdue 0
Singles
No. 1 Cary Franklin (UI) def. Jason Marshall (PU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 Jeff Laski (UI) def. Derek Miller (PU) 6-1, 6-7, 6-1
No. 3 Graydon Oliver (UI) def. Andrew Wakefield (PU) 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 Jamal Parker (UI) def. Carl McCafferty (PI) 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 Mike Kosta (UI) def. Scott Mayer (PU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 6 Matt Synder (UI) def. Laith Al-Agba (PU) 7-5, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 Laski/Parker (UI) def. Marshall/Wakefield (PU) 8-6
No. 2 McCafferty/Miller (PU) def. Franklin/Oliver (UI) 8-6
No. 3 Shawn Brooke/Synder (UI) def. Al-Agba/Mayer (PU) 8-5