April 20, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue's women's tennis team finished its regular season with a 4-3 loss to No. 69 Minnesota Sunday afternoon on the Schwartz Tennis Outdoor courts.
"It's hard to get mad when every one of your players puts it all out on the court," said Purdue head coach Laura Glitz. "We've come so close so many times of late, and I just know if we keep knocking on that door it's going to open for us sooner or later."
The Boilermakers have played four-straight see-saw battles but once again found themselves looking up. The match was decided at No. 1 singles after Brooke Beier dropped a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 decision to Alessandra Ferrazzi.
"I told Brooke that when it comes down to a single match I want her to be the one out there - and I was happy that it was her - but her opponent played a good, tough game," Glitz said.
Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead after gaining the doubles point and victory at No. 4 singles.
In doubles, Beier and Wooten improved to 8-6 at No. 1 with their 8-3 win over Karina Chiarelli amd Lindsay Risebrough, but Cigdem Duru and Joanna Craven had their three-match win streak snapped at No. 2. Whitney Reys and Alejandra Boeker dropped an 8-5 decision at the No. 3 position.
The Boilermakers eventually rolled ahead after collecting three-consecutive straight-set wins from Wooten, Duru and Boeker at the 2, 3 and 6 spots.
Wooten beat Risebrough, 6-2, 6-2 to finish her regular season at 11-9.
Duru came back to win a first set tiebreaker before dominating Chiarelli in the second set, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Boeker won her second match of the weekend with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) decision over Jackie Sperling.
Minnesota tied the match with a win at No. 5 singles before receiving the clincher from Ferrazzi.
The loss dropped Purdue to 4-16 and 2-8 in the Big Ten Conference. Minnesota finished a game ahead of the Boilermakers in the conference standings at 3-7 and is 14-10 overall.
If Minnesota and Purdue end up finishing eighth and ninth in the Big Ten, they will play each other in the first round of the conference tournament, which begins Thursday at the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"It would be good for us to play Minnesota again in the same week," Glitz said. "We just played them in a close match and I think we'll be even more ready to get them the next time. I really believe that we matched up well with them at every spot in singles."
The final Big Ten regular season standings, pairings and schedule for next weekend's conference tournament will be released in the coming days.
For more information on the Big Ten Women's Tennis Tournament, please click here.