Feb. 16, 2002
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Despite a 13-day layoff, the Purdue men's tennis team appeared sharp during a 5-2 victory at Western Michigan on Saturday afternoon.
The Boilermakers (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) won the doubles points and four of the six singles matches.
Purdue coach Tim Madden applauded his team for making improvements in singles play, particularly during second sets and in tie breakers.
"I'm trying to make our players understand how to hit the ball better, really finding ways to take their opponent apart," Madden says. "Hopefully our mental tenacity is picking up and I think it showed in second sets of tie breakers."
At No. 1 singles, junior Scott Mayer dropped his first set 2-6 to the Broncos' Ravishankar Rathanjali before rallying with a pair of 6-2 victories. Mayer and senior Dan Swann won 8-5 at No. 1 doubles.
"Our focus has been to create opportunities, gaining a competitive edge," Madden says. "And to put ourselves in a position to capitalize and control our own destiny."
Other singles winners for the Boilermakers were sophomore Troy Havens at No. 3 (6-2, 4-6, 7-6 over Ryan Maarschalk), senior Laith Al-Agba at No. 4 (6-3, 6-3) over Justin Kates and freshman Sounak Chatterjee at No. 5 (4-6, 7-5 3-2 ret.) over Mike Findling.
"In particular, Laith had the best day," Madden says. "He had a very decisive singles play and he took it very seriously and was determined."
Al-Agba and junior Carl McCafferty won at No. 2 doubles (8-5), while Chatterjee and junior Andrew Wakefield were victorious at No. 3 doubles (8-3).
Western Michigan fell to 5-5.
On Sunday, Purdue visits No. 7 Notre Dame (8-3 following a win over Wisconsin on Saturday). The match begins at 1 p.m. EST at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.