March 13, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue's men's tennis team (7-6, 1-1 Big Ten) fell at No. 18 Miami 6-1 Thursday afternoon in its first outdoor match of the spring season.
Head coach Tim Madden said his team responded well to the week's worth of outdoor training.
"The guys really took care of their training this week, so in that regard it was a success," he said. "We were well prepared and thought we competed hard, but still lost to one of the top teams of the country."
Purdue was swept in doubles, however, the No. 1 combo of Slavko Bijelica and Branko Kuzmanovic again pushed their opponents to the limit for a third-straight match.
Bijelcia and Kuzmanovic Wednesday lost by one point to the nation's 15th-ranked tandem of Daniel Vallerdu and Carl Sundberg, 8-7. The sophomore Boilermakers lost 8-6 the last two weekends to both Michigan State's 21st-ranked combo of Nick Rinks and Adam Monich and Illinois' No. 20 duo of Ryan Rowe and Billy Heiser.
Four of the six Boilermakers singles competitors were eliminated straight sets, but Eric Ramos and Griff Nienberg were able to extend their matches to a third-set super tiebreak with mixed results.
Ramos won his second-straight super tiebreak, beating Sundberg, 6-3, 4-6, 13-11 at No. 4 singles. The victory improved Ramos' spring record to 10-5.
Nienberg came up short at No. 5 singles, dropping a 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 decision to Keith Crawley.
The Boilermakers next visit Western Michigan on March 22 followed by a weekend conference series at Wisconsin and Northwestern on March 29 and 30.
Purdue returns home to the Schwartz Tennis Center on the weekend of April 5 and 6, playing host to Michigan and Penn State.