Nov. 16, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -No member of the Purdue men's tennis team won the singles title at the Big Tens Singles Championship in Ann Arbor this weekend. Nor did any player make it to the round of sixteen in the main draw. What did occur was the rising of two stars in the Boilermaker lineup.
Juniors Sounak Chatterjee and David Robinson are both two year letter winners and have been an asset to this team since they stepped on the courts here at Purdue. This weekend Head Coach Tim Madden noticed a high intensity and great progression in their play that sparked some excitement.
"The two people that really stood out in this tournament were Chatterjee and Robinson," Madden said. "Both of these men are playing the best I have seen them. Competing athletically and aggressively they will be a tremendous help both in singles and in doubles."
Chatterjee went 2-0 for the day defeating John Stone of Indiana 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and Joe McWilliams of Michigan State 6-3, 6-4. McWilliams and Chatterjee met earlier in the year, but that meeting McWilliams got the upper hand as he did against Purdue junior Filip Koziell today, winning 6-4, 6-4.
Robinson also went 2-0 on Sunday defeating Ahmed Wahla of Northwestern 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and his teammate Adam Schaechterle 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Sophomore Paul Rose continued the trend, taking out Mikey Kantar of Minnesota 6-2, 6-1 and Ryan McCarthy of Indiana 6-4, 6-1.
Purdue's freshman class of Jarred Leibner, Scott Warner, and Eric Hodgman were a combined 1-4 for the day. Leibner provided the lone victory defeating Crowell of Penn State 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 before losing to his teammate Aaron Ellis 7-6, 6-2. The Penn State freshman also got the best of Warner defeating him 6-4, 6-2. Eric Hodgman received his loss at the hands Minnesota's Brian Lipinski, losing 6-2, 6-1.
In the rest of the action senior Troy Havens lost to Alex Kasarov of Wisconsin 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 and sophomore Colin Foster defeated David Bubenicek of Indiana 6-1, 6-3 before falling to Mark Berry of Penn State 7-5, 7-6.
For complete draws and results from the Big Ten Singles Championships, check out www.mgoblue.com.
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