Jan. 23, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's tennis team defeated Missouri 4-3 Friday on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"I think it was a phenomenal effort from the whole team," head coach Laura Glitz said. "I thought we had great energy which started with the doubles and then carried over into singles. I was proud of the way the team played in the tight situations because for a young team they did a great job coming through in the clutch."
Purdue (1-1) jumped to an early 1-0 lead after the doubles matches by winning at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. Freshmen Jennifer Rabot and Remi Martin gave Purdue an early edge by taking an 8-1 decision over Jessica Guiggioli and Kaitlyn Ritchie at No. 2 doubles. Freshman Anna Dushkina and junior co-captain Tatiana Ganzha were defeated by Danielle Day and Sofia Ayala at the No. 3 position 8-6. The Boilermakers clinched the doubles point when co-captain Stephanie Wooten and junior Michelle Sammons defeated Mallory Weber and Jamie Mera 9-7 at No. 1 doubles.
Missouri (0-1) tied the match when Day defeated Martin at No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-1, but the teams did not stay deadlocked for long. Wooten wrapped up an impressive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Guiggioli at No. 1 singles to push Purdue back into the lead.
Missouri pulled even again when Weber defeated Sammons 6-2, 7-5 at No. 2 singles. Dushkina improved to 2-0 in her young dual-match career with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 victory over Ayala at No. 6 singles to give Purdue the lead again.
Ganzha clinched the match for Purdue with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Ritchie at No. 3 singles. Mera defeated Rabot 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 at No. 4 singles for the final margin.
"I think we did a great job," Ganzha said. "We had great energy out there and a positive attitude. We've worked hard in the last week, and everybody wanted to come back after the loss last Friday. I think everybody did a great job."
The Boilermakers return to action Sunday as they host 24th-ranked Tennessee at noon ET.