Feb. 1, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A 7-0 sweep of Butler at the Lafayette Sports Center on Sunday improved the Purdue men's tennis team's record to 2-0 on the young season. The 53rd-ranked Boilermakers handed the Bulldogs their fourth loss in four outings.
Purdue, which was coming off a hard-fought 5-2 win against Ball State on Saturday, jumped out to a 1-0 lead by capturing the doubles point. Junior Sounak Chatterjee and sophomore Paul Rose combined for an 8-5 win at No. 1, before sophomore Colin Foster and freshman Eric Hodgman clinched the point with an 8-5 win at No. 3. Juniors Filip Koziell and David Robinson made the doubles sweep complete, with another 8-5 victory at No. 2.
Butler stormed back in singles, though, winning four of six first sets. The two first sets the Boilermakers won resulted in straight-set victories for Purdue, as freshman Jarred Leibner won at No. 4, and Rose won at No. 1.
Each Purdue player who surrendered a first set battled back to win the second, and all four managed to pull out three-set victories.
In addition to Leibner and Rose, Purdue got wins from Robinson at No. 2, Foster at No. 3, Koziell at No. 5, and Hodgman at No. 6. Koziell's win in a third-set tiebreaker clinched the match for the Boilermakers.
Purdue head coach Tim Madden thought his team's youth showed against the Bulldogs.
"Obviously we're a young team," Madden said. "We got the lead early and tried to play comfortable tennis, which caused us to let things slip. Eventually we got tuned in and executed our game plan."
Madden highlighted the play of Rose, who finished the day as one of five Boilermakers to collect two victories.
"Paul beat a very good, national-level player in Kevin Gill," Madden said. "He played well all weekend and gave us great leadership at the top of the lineup."
Purdue will return to action next weekend, when it travels to Western Michigan and Notre Dame. The Boilermakers will play the Broncos on Feb. 7, and the Fighting Irish on Feb. 8.
#53 Purdue 7, Butler 0Singles1. Paul Rose (PU) def. Kevin Gill (BU) 6-4, 6-42. David Robinson (PU) def. Brandon Gill (BU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-13. Colin Foster (PU) def. James Low (BU) 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-34. Jarred Leibner (PU) def. Andy Bartish (BU) 6-4, 2-1 ret.5. Filip Koziell (PU) def. Mike Weaver (BU) 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (6)6. Eric Hodgman (PU) def. Evan West (BU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0Doubles1. Sounak Chatterjee/Rose (PU) def. B. Gill/Bartish (BU) 8-52. Koziell/Robinson (PU) def. K. Gill/Low (BU) 8-53. Foster/Hodgman (PU) def. West/Weaver (BU) 8-5- P -
Order of singles finish: 4, 1, 5, 2, 3, 6Order of doubles finish: 1, 3, 2
Purdue: 2-0Butler: 0-4