Feb. 17, 2007
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue earned its first clean sweep of the dual season, winning all nine matches against the Washington University Bears Saturday night at the Schwartz Tennis Center.
The victory pushed Purdue's record to 4-0 and gave head coach Tim Madden his 150th win as a Boilermaker, tying Larry LaBree's (1925-64) record for most career victories. Madden will look to earn win No. 151 on the road at Michigan State next Saturday.
The Boilermakers made the win look easy even while using a modified lineup. Regulars Branko Kuzmanovic, Eric Hodgman, Paul Foley and Scott Warner all moved up one spot as Griff Nienberg and Jose Fuenmayor filled in the No. 5 and 6 singles positions.
Nienberg beat Danny Levy, 6-2, 7-5, and Fuenmayor ran over Charlie Howard 6-3, 6-1.
In doubles, Madden successfully combined his top two singles players, Kuzmanovic and Paul Rose, for an 8-4 win over Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland. The 13-year head coach also brought back P.J. Rose and Eric Hodgman at No. 2 doubles for the first time this season; this tandem attained a No. 32 national ranking in March of 2006.
Hodgman and Rose beat Trevis Bowman and Nirmal Choradia, 8-4, to seal the doubles point.
Madden said the recent emergence of Paul Rose combined with the re-teaming of P.J. Rose and Hodgman has the team feeling good.
"We're beginning to put some pieces together that will get us ready for the Big Ten season," said Madden. "Paul has always been a force at the top of the lineup, and his wins today make him feel like he's back. The team senses that too and is starting to think this could be a really good year."
The Boilermakers cruised through a majority of their singles matches as only Foley was forced to play a third set. Foley, a freshman from Dublin, Ireland, won his sixth-consecutive match of the spring with a 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-1 decision over Hoeland.
Of Foley's four dual victories this season, three of them have been won in a third set.
Foley's six-match winning streak is second only to senior Hodgman, who remains a perfect 7-0 this spring following his 6-2, 6-1 dismantling of John Watts.
Hodgman's senior classmate Warner improved to 6-1 after beating Nirmal Choradia, 6-2, 6-3; and Kuzmanovic won his fourth-consecutive dual with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Cutler.
Kuzmanovic, a freshman from Belgrade, Serbia, began the season 0-3 at the Boilermaker Invitational, but has won every match (at No. 1 or 2 singles) ever since.