Feb. 23, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team struck back hard after a 5-2 loss against 74th-ranked Ball State in Muncie, Ind. on Feb. 22 and defeated 75th-ranked Iowa 6-1 in their Big Ten opener at the Lafayette Sports Center.
Though there was victory, it did not come without a price as two of the Boilermakers came out of their matches with injuries. Freshman Paul Rose and junior Seth McKinley gave the onlookers a scare as they took time to shake off the pain during their singles matches.
"It was my hip flexor." Rose said. "At 2-0 I turned wrong twice and felt something tighten up, I will find out tomorrow with Seth, on the status of the injury."
The injuries may have hurt the players physically, but mentally they controlled the matches and pulled out two wins for the Boilermakers. Rose went on to defeat Johan Bergenas 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4, while McKinley outmatched his opponent Parker Ross 6-2, 7-6 at No.5. From this, Purdue coach Tim Madden feels the players showed a lot of character and heart.
"For Paul, it was a strange thing the way it happened but he got back out there, and found a way to finish," Madden said. "He won with a lot of heart and power."
Though McKinley wasn't 100 percent, Madden applauded the junior for finding an alternate way to win the match.
"Seth became a smarter player today and I think he learned some things," Madden said. "His first serve percentage went up immediately because he could not hit big serves anymore and had to find another way. I hope that is a good thing for his mental focus in the future."
Both players will receive x-rays in the morning, Rose for his hip flexor and McKinley, for his wrist. Madden is confident both will be back and ready to practice this week.
Madden, looking over today's victory compared it with the Western Michigan match in which after a loss on Saturday, the team responded back with victory on Sunday.
"We did this two weeks ago, we were flat on Saturday and weren't tough enough," Madden said. "Today was not anywhere close to the same level that we played yesterday. It was decisive, we competed at a higher level, and we decided that we were going to be mentally tougher."
This mental toughness was shown early as Purdue took two out of the three doubles matches to win the first point. At No. 1 junior Troy Havens and senior Scott Mayer defeated Waters and Skogman 8-3. At No. 2 Paul Rose and senior Andrew Wakefield defeated Bergenas and Malempati 8-4.
The loss in doubles for the Boilermakers came at No. 3 as freshman Colin Foster and Seth McKinley were defeated by Rose and Ross of Iowa 8-3.
The lone bright spot for the Hawkeyes after the victory at No. 3 in the doubles was from the 65th ranked Stuart Waters at No. 1 singles. Waters fought a close match against 120th ranked Scott Mayer, but pulled through a tight second set to defeat Purdue's No. 1 in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.
Despite these two losses, everything else went for the Boilermakers. The lower spots where Madden showed concern coming into this weekend stepped up and won. Along with Rose and Mckinley's victories at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions, sophomore David Robinson at No. 6, breezed through Iowa's Malempati 6-0 , 6-1 as the boilermakers first singles victory of the match.
At No. 3 Havens defeated Pete Rose 6-4, 6-2. Pete Rose, a senior at Iowa is Paul Rose's older brother.
Though Pete has more experience in the NCAA, The younger Rose and the Boilermakers were the champions today. Also at No. 2 singles, Wakefield confirmed the final point by defeating Hunter Skogman in three sets 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The Boilermakers hit the road again when it travels to Seattle, Wash. to face Oregon and Washington on March 1st and 2nd.
-P-
Singles
No.1. Stuart Waters (I) def. Scott Mayer (P) 6-3, 7-5No.2. Andrew Wakefield (P)def. Hunter Skogman (I) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2No.3. Troy Havens (P) def. Pete Rose (I) 6-4, 6-2No.4. Paul Rose (P) def. Johan Bergenas (I) 6-0, 6-2No.5. Seth McKinley (P) def. Parker Ross (I) 6-2, 7-6No.6. David Robinson (P) def. Chaitu Malempati (I) 6-0, 6-1
DoublesNo.1. Havens/Mayer (P) def. Waters/Skogman (I) 8-3No.2. Rose/Wakefield (P) def. Bergenas/Malempati (I) 8-4No.3. Rose/Ross (I) def. Foster/McKinley (P) 8-3