Jan. 18, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team was defeated by DePaul 4-3 Sunday on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"There are many ways to say it, but when you are afraid to fail, you will lose," head coach Tim Madden said. "I'm in disbelief that we let this match get away because we found numerous ways to win in doubles and singles. I'm still in disbelief we let that match get away. We talked this week about finding a way to win. I thought if our focus was on how to win we would get the job done, but we didn't step up when it was necessary. It's a very tough loss."
Purdue won the doubles point by sweeping all three matches. Purdue's No. 2 doubles team of Branko Kuzmanovic and P.J. Rose claimed the first decision of the match by defeating Alasdair Graetz and Bartosz Jozwiak 8-6. The No. 3 doubles team of Paul Foley and Eric Ramos clinched the doubles point for Purdue with a 9-8 (6) victory over Jose Moncada and Matija Palinic. The No. 1 tandem of Slavko Bijelica and Griff Nienberg trailed Austin Doerner and Ben Hartman 7-5 before coming back to win 9-8 (5).
Purdue extended its lead to 2-0 as Ramos earned a straight-set victory over Palinic. Ramos won 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 5 singles position. DePaul pulled to 2-1 after Jozwiak defeated Nienberg 6-1, 6-3 at No. 6 singles and tied the match with Moncada's 6-4, 6-2 win over Roberto Cabrini at No. 2 singles.
DePaul pushed ahead with the conclusion of No. 4 singles play. Graetz and Rose battled for three sets, with Graetz pulling out the 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory. Bijelica and Doerner battled for three sets at No. 1 singles before Bijelica evened the match with his 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3 victory.
"Slavko came up to me after his match and said sorry," Madden said. "Slavko won his match, but he did it the hard way. He understands what it takes. We have others that need to learn that lesson."
The match would not be decided for another hour after Bijelica's win tied it. Kuzmanovic and Hartman played a marathon match at No. 3 singles that lasted more than three hours before Hartman clinched the win for DePaul 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
The Boilermakers return to action Jan. 31 as they host Western Michigan at 2 p.m. ET.