Oct. 14, 2001
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Sophomore Troy Havens and senior Derek Miller both won their singles flights in the second and final day of the Boilermaker Invitational today. Out of three finals played, Purdue men's tennis players occupied six of the competitor slots.
The weekend's success pleased head coach Tim Madden.
"This was the first time that we've had a week of practice that has made us ready for competition," Madden said. "We addressed issues of practicing with an edge to compete with an edge. Our guys really bought into it and it showed."
It showed mostly for Havens and Miller. Havens won one of the A Flights. First he defeated Ryan Maarschalk of Western Michigan 6-2, 7-5 in the second round, then rallied from a set down in the title match to knock off the Broncos' Ravishankar Pathanjali 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"Troy beat one of the best players in the tournament today," Madden said. "He epitomized what we were trying to do this week."
So did Miller, who captured one of the B Flights. Miller defeated Western Michigan's Erik Lindroos in the second round, 7-6, 6-2. In the championship match, he beat junior teammate Carl McCafferty 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
"Derek's mental tenacity was consistent throughout the tournament, and that probably helped him in the final," Madden said. "It was a great final between him and Carl. It was too bad they both couldn't win."
McCafferty made it to the title match with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over the Broncos' Michael Findling.
Freshman Sounak Chatterjee defeated Iowa's Jake Wilson 7-6, 6-4 in an off-draw match.
Sophomore Seth McKinley lost 6-1, 6-1 to Iowa's Hunter Skogman.
Senior Laith Al-Agba fell 6-4, 7-6 to Pathanjali in the second round.
Purdue returns to action on Friday, October 26 at the ITA Regionals in East Lansing, Mich.
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