"We had set goals coming into Washington. One of them was to get at least three of our singles matches into third sets and push the Huskie players to the limit," Madden said. "We had four matches in the third set and Paul Rose got it done in a tiebreak."
Purdue started out the match winning one of the three doubles matches and coming up just short of the point. The victory came at the No. 2 position, where Troy Havens and Andrew Wakefield defeated Fred Sundsten and Nick Weiss 8-3. The Huskies Matt Hanlin and Dillon Ruby defeated Scott Mayer and Paul Rose in the No. 1 position 8-6 while at No. 3 Christoph Palmanshofer and Peter Scharler defeated Sounak Chatterjee and Colin Foster, 8-4.
Though Purdue lost the doubles point, the Boilermakers kept the energy level up in singles action. This was evident in the four matches that went into three sets. At No. 1, senior Scott Mayer lost to eighth ranked Alex Vlaski 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Junior Troy Havens at the No. 3 spot fell just shy of victory losing in a third set tie break to Christoph Palmanshofer 6-1, 2-6, 7-6. Freshman Paul Rose handed the Huskies their only loss at No. 4 spot with a 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 win over Fred Sundsten. Coach Madden was proud of all three of these men for playing skillfully despite pain.
"I want to mention that there were three individuals that have injuries," Madden said. "Scott Mayer continues to have elbow problems while Troy Havens and Paul Rose are dealing with hip flexor injuries. All three battled through and had a great weekend and I want to give them a lot of credit."
Madden continued his comments commending Mayer for his efforts on the court this season.
"Scott Mayer is struggling with elbow problems so he can't really work on his serve during the week. He comes in on the weekend and finds other ways to take some of the best players in the country out of their game."
In the remaining spots at No. 2 senior, Andrew Wakefield fell in two sets to No. 14-ranked Matt Hanlin 6-2, 6-2. At No. 5 Washington's Peter Scharler came from behind to defeat sophomore David Robinson 5-7, 6-1, 7-5, and at No. 6 freshman Colin Foster lost to Dillon Ruby 6-2, 6-0.
Despite the 6-1 defeat, Madden was encouraged by the teams play and outcome of the weekend's matches.
"Washington is a top team, and it was good for us to see one of the best teams in the country and to see our guys compete hard," Madden said. "Both days against Washington and Oregon we had six guys out there looking to compete from start to finish. Hopefully we're better for having had the experience of high level competition and it will help us get ready for our next Big Ten match against Northwestern."
Purdue (5-3) is back in action on March 7 against Northwestern at the Lafayette Sports Center. Doubles play is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
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