April 24, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - - The Boilermakers' 2008 season came to a close Thursday at the Schwartz Tennis Center, dropping a 4-2 decision to Minnesota in the first round of the Big Ten Championship.
The eighth-seeded Golden Gophers improved to 15-10 and will face top-seed and No. 1 nationally ranked Northwestern Friday at 10 a.m.
Purdue, the conference tournament's ninth-seed, finished the year at 4-17.
"I honestly thought we'd win today based on how well I thought we matched up with them last Sunday," said Purdue head coach Laura Glitz. "Minnesota was on fire and they wanted it a lot more. Overall, it's a surprising and disappointing finish."
Minnesota won the doubles point in addition to matches at the No. 4, 5 and 6 positions. Jackie Sperling's 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Alejandra Boeker at No. 6 was the clincher.
"The doubles point was key," Purdue senior Brooke Beier said. "They came out with more fire than us and that came back to hurt us in singles, although I felt we were right there with them again. It's hard losing a match in the Big Ten Tournament."
Beier's and redshirt junior Stephanie Wooten's straight-set victories at the top two positions were the Boilermakers' lone points.
Beier beat Alessandra Ferrazzi at the top spot, 7-5, 6-3, and Wooten won 6-4, 6-0, at No. 2 over Lindsay Risebrough.
Ferrazi beat Beier in three sets on Sunday, giving Minnesota a 4-3 win in the regular-season finale for both teams. This time, however, Beier was able to get the best of the Minnesota freshman.
"I was more aggressive today," she said. "I just felt like there was no way I was going to lose this match."
"Brooke played a great match from start to finish," added Glitz. "She was aggressive, pumped up and really took it to the girl, who is a good opponent."
Beier's win was the 71st of her career, tying her with Amy Walgenbach for the sixth most in program history. Erica Adams leads all Boilermakers with 123 career wins.
Wooten, who had not played for the last year and a half due to injury, rebounded to compile an overall record of 21-13 this year. The Combine, Texas, native won nine times in the fall and finished 12-9 in the spring. She was also 6-4 against Big Ten opponents.
Wooten is favored to start at No. 1 singles next season on what will be considered a very young team.
"We have four new players coming in next year and all of them are very talented and exciting to watch," Wooten said. "Coach has a lot of us coming back as well and I think we'll do good.
"Coach Glitz is great. She knows the program, really pushes us to do our best and likes to win."
"Down the road we're going to have a team here that's going to regularly finish in the top three of the Big Ten each year," added Beier. "I know we're bringing in four great players and Laura and (assistant coach) Val (Vladea) will get everything turned around."