March 28, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team won its third match in a row and picked up an important point in the Titan Series with Indiana following a 6-1 victory over the Hoosiers at the Lafayette Sports Center on Thursday, March 28.
The win improved Purdue's record to 7-7 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten.
Head coach Tim Madden noted the significance of this victory, Purdue's seventh straight over Indiana.
"Every Big Ten match is important because the outcome will contribute to seeding for the Big Ten tournament," Madden said. "We have a long season, but seeing Indiana on the schedule always gives us motivation. I was very pleased with how well we played today, especially with our energy level in singles."
Before Purdue got to the singles portion of the match, however, it needed to take care of business in doubles. As usual, the Boilermakers came through by winning two of three matches to claim the point. Junior Scott Mayer and senior Dan Swan teamed for an 8-3 win over Zach Held and Ryan Recht at No. 1, while junior Carl McCafferty and sophomore Seth McKinley combined for an 8-4 victory over Tom Bagnato and Efriam Kandinov at No. 3.
Mayer continued to shine in singles, knocking off Milan Rakvica 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 for his third-consecutive victory.
"This is a good win for me," Mayer said. "I knew I would have to play well to beat him, and I was able to get him frustrated."
Madden praised Mayer's play against Rakvica, an All-Big Ten player a year ago currently ranked 109th in the latest ITA poll.
"Scott beat a very talented, experienced player today," Madden said. "What he did today is what he has a knack for doing - making his opponent feel they're having a bad day."
Joining Mayer in the win column were senior Derek Miller at No. 2, junior Carl McCafferty at No. 3, junior Andrew Wakefield at No. 4, and sophomore Troy Havens at No. 5. The only singles loss of the day was suffered by freshman Sounak Chatterjee at No. 6.
The Boilermakers have little time to revel in their victory over the Hoosiers, which brought the Titan Series score to 7-5 in favor of Indiana. Purdue will travel to Champaign to take on No. 3 Illinois on March 30 at noon.
According to Madden, Purdue's confidence should help when the Boilermakers take the court against the Fighting Illini.
"Winning our last three matches has really increased our confidence level, and we'll need that against Illinois," Madden said. "We've already played a number of top teams this season and have learned a lot from those experiences. We're going to enjoy the competition."
PURDUE 6, INDIANA 1Singles1. Scott Mayer (P) def. Milan Rakvica (I) 6-4, 6-12. Derek Miller (P) def. Jakub Praibis (I) 6-7, 6-4, ret.3. Carl McCafferty (P) def. Zach Held (I) 6-4, 1-6, 6-24. Andrew Wakefield (P) def. Tom Bagnato (I) 7-5, 6-35. Troy Havens (P) def. Ryan Recht (I) 6-4, 6-26. Ari Widlansky (I) def. Sounak Chatterjee (P) 6-4, 7-5Doubles1. Mayer/Dan Swan (P) def. Held/Recht (I) 8-32. Rakvica/Widlansky (I) def. Miller/Wakefield (P) 8-53. McCafferty/Seth McKinley (P) def. Bagnato/Efriam Kandinov (I) 8-4
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