March 29, 2003
West Lafayette, Ind. - Playing in its last non-conference match of the regular season, the Purdue men's tennis team met with success in a 5-2 win at No. 63 Indiana State on Saturday, March 29, 2003. The Boilermakers improve their overall record to 8-5, while the Sycamores drop their overall record to and even 7-7.
The Boilermakers were able to fine their niche early on in doubles and swept the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots. That gave the upper hand with a 1-0 team lead heading into singles action.
Though Purdue seemed to express stellar performance, Coach Tim Madden would like to have seen better play from the lower line-up.
"We must get better performance out of lower line up positions," Madden. "Our No. 3 doubles team is getting better, but they still need to improve."
At No. 1 doubles, senior Scott Mayer and junior Troy Havens defeated Henry Choi and David O'Connell 8-4. Similarly, junior Andrew Wakefield and freshman Paul Rose defeated Vedran Vidovic and Lovre Brajkovic 8-4 at No. 2, while the Boilermaker duo of junior Seth McKinley and sophomore Sounak Chatterjee beat Dmytro Ishtuganov and Ionut Hurduc 8-5 at No. 3.
It was a different story, however, as Purdue did not sweep its individual matches. The Boilermakers lost two of their matches at the No. 1 and 3 spots, culminating their chance to sweep the match.
In singles, the ISU's Vedran Vidovic initiated the individual victory for the Sycamores, defeating Wakefield 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 at No. 1. Indiana State's Lovre Brajkovic joined his teammate in the winning pool by beating Havens 7-5, 6-1 at No. 3.
Winning for Purdue were Scott Mayer at No. 2 and Paul Rose at No. 4. Mayer defeated Choi 6-3, 6-3, while teammate Rose beat his ISU opponent, O'Connell 6-3, 6-2.
With Purdue up 3-2, and two matches remaining, it was up to either Seth McKinley or David Robinson to clinch the victory for the Boilermakers. The win was instantly determined as Robinson defeated the Sycamores' Ionut Hurduc 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 at the No. 6 spot. McKinley also added a point to Purdue's score, as the junior defeated Dmytro Ishtuganov 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 at No. 5.
Madden was ecstatic about the victory, but would like to see the team play with a higher level of competition heading into the Big Ten season.
"We're doing a real good job of competing at the top of the line-up, but I think as we go into the heart of the big ten season, we need to make sure we are playing with total team effort," Madden said. "Against Wisconsin tomorrow, that's exactly what I want to see, I also want to see the lower line-up positions dictating play. "
Purdue is back in action tomorrow when it travels back to West Lafayette to face Wisconsin at the Lafayette Sports Center. Play is expected to begin at 11:00 a.m. (EST) with doubles up first.
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PURDUE 5, INDIANA STATE 2
SINGLES(1) Vedran Vidovic (ISU) def. Andrew Wakefield (PU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3(2) Scott Mayer (PU) def. Henry Choi (ISU) 6-3, 6-3(3) Lovre Brajkovic (ISU) def. Troy Havens (PU) 7-5, 6-1(4) Paul Rose (PU) def. David O'Connell (ISU) 6-3, 6-2(5) Seth McKinley (PU) def. Dmytro Ishtuganov (ISU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(6) David Robinson (PU) def. Ionut Hurduc (ISU) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
DOUBLES(1) Mayer/Havens (PU) def. Choi/O'Connell (ISU) 8-4(2) Wakefield/Rose (PU) def. Vidovic/Brajkovic (ISU) 8-4(3) McKinely/Chatterjee (PU) def. Ishtuganov/Hurduc (ISU) 8-5