Feb. 8, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue (3-2) won its thrid-straight home match Friday night at the Schwartz Tennis Center with a 6-1 decision over the Indiana State Sycamores (1-5).
The match marked the return of redshirt junior Kelubia Mabatah, who clinched the match at No. 6 singles with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Michael Wenham. Because of an elbow injury, Mabatah had not seen dual-match action since his freshman year of 2006.
Boilermaker head coach Tim Madden said Mabatah's win was an important one for the Houston, Texas native.
"Kel has always competed with power, but after having elbow surgery he's had to find other ways to win and he did that tonight," Madden said. "He controlled the game and kept his opponent off balance. It was great to see him return to action and pick up the victory."
Mabatha's victory did not solidify his spot in the lineup and he won't be making Sunday's trip to Arkansas. Madden said Mabatah, sophomore Paul Foley and sophomore Eren Turkmenler will continue to rotate in and out of the No. 5 and 6 positions.
Friday was Foley's night off and Turkmenler responded with a three-set marathon triumph over Joshua Smith.
Turkmenler dropped the first set 4-6 and almost lost the second set after leading 5-2. Smith came all the way back to take a 6-5 lead in the second set, but Turkmenler claimed the next point and sent it to a tiebreak, which he won in see-saw fashion 8-6.
Down 9-7 in the super tiebreak, Turkmenler won five of the final six points to escape 12-10.
Most everyone else on the Purdue roster had an easy night.
Sophomore Slavko Bijelica snapped a personal three-match losing streak with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Rishi Behl at No. 2 singles.
Freshman Eric Ramos improved to 7-1 with his 6-3, 6-2 victory against Jon Sigurdsson, and Griff Nienberg took care of Mpiloenhle Migogo at No. 5, 6-3, 6-3.
Madden said Nienberg is the most improved player on this year's team.
"No question about it, Griff is playing at a higher level of confidence," Madden said. "He continues to hit his shots and he's past worrying about things he cannot control. When it's a new point, he gets after it. Even our alumns have notice how far he has come in one year - more than anyone else on this team."
Purdue swept doubles for the third time in three chances at home this season. Nienberg and Jose Fuenmayor finished first with a 8-4 win against Migogo and Wenham at No. 3, improving Fuenmayor's doubles mark to 4-2.
Ramos paired with Foley at No. 2 and came away with a 8-5 decision over Anton Tsymbalov and Smith. Branko Kuzmanovic and Bijelica survived at No. 1 with their 8-7 (4) victory against Behl and Sigurdsson.
The Boilermakers return home next Saturday for a start of a weekend homestand featuring Maryland (Feb. 16) and Toldeo (Feb. 17). Admission is free to all regular season Purdue matches at the Schwartz Tennis Center.