Jan. 19, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermakers' men's tennis team got off to a good start at its home invitational Saturday at the Schwartz Tennis Center, winning seven of their 11 matches.
Six of those victories came against the 41st-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, who Purdue upset last year in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
The Boilermakers captured two of three doubles contests and four of six singles competitions vs. their Big Ten rivals. Newcomer Eren Turkmenler posted an additional victory, rumbling over Drake's Konrad Kamizelich, 6-3, 6-0.
Doubles wins were scored by the combos of sophomores Slavko Bijelica and Branko Kuzmanovic and juniors Griff Nienberg and P.J. Rose.
Playing together for the first time as Boilermakers, the Serbia friends dispatched the Gopher duo of Sebastian Gallego and Chi-Lang Pham 8-6.
Rose and Nienberg defeated Minnesota's Derek Peterson and Dino Bilankov 8-5.
Bijelica's and Kuzmanovic's winning ways did not carry over to the singles court, but Rose and sophomore Paul Foley pulled off three-set wins while freshman Eric Ramos and Nienberg won in straight sets.
Nienberg dominated Peterson on court No. 6, 6-0, 6-1 and Ramos crusied past Pham 6-1, 6-2.
Foley dropped his first set to Adam Altepeter, 6-4, but came back quickly with second and third-set scores of 6-2 and 6-1.
Rose defeated Gallego, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0.
Day two of the Boilermaker Invitational picks up Sunday at 9 a.m. as Minnesota battles No. 59 Western Michigan. Purdue and Drake play at 2 p.m.
Admission to all Boilermaker varsity matches at the Schwartz Tennis Center is free.