Jan. 25, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's tennis team was defeated 6-1 by No. 24 Tennessee Sunday on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"I thought Tennessee came in and played very well against us," head coach Laura Glitz said. "You have to give them credit. We played well in spots, but I did not see a consistent effort from the team as a whole. For us to keep improving, our energy and fight need to be there for every match."
Purdue (1-2), which earned the doubles point in its win over Missouri Friday, found itself in a hole early after losing all three doubles matches. Junior Michelle Sammons and co-captain Stephanie Wooten were defeated 8-2 at the No. 1 position by Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor. Freshman Anna Dushkina and co-captain Tatiana Ganzha fell 8-5 to Maria Sorbello and Sam Orlin at No. 3, and Purdue's freshman duo of Remi Martin and Jennifer Rabot were defeated 8-5 by Natalie Pluskota and Jennifer Meredith at the No. 2 spot.
Glitz was forced to shuffle her lineup before singles play began when Wooten, who was slated to play at No. 1, was unable to continue after doubles. As a result, freshman Kay Kay Magi made her dual-match debut at the No. 6 position.
Tennessee (2-0) extended its lead to 2-0 when Meredith defeated Martin 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles and pushed the score to 3-0 with Sorbello's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Magi.
Rabot earned her second singles victory in the season's first three matches and narrowed Purdue's deficit to 3-1 with a commanding 6-4, 6-1 win over the 77th-ranked Orlin at No. 3 singles.
"I knew she was a good player, but she had obvious weaknesses I felt I could attack," Rabot said. "The main goal was to play my game, which I've been working on all week, and I wanted to build on my match from Friday. I just really wanted to win."
The Lady Volunteers clinched the match at No. 2 singles as Pluskota defeated Sammons 6-2, 6-3. At No. 5 singles, Zubor earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Dushkina.
The most even match of the day took place between Ganzha and Whoriskey at No. 1 singles. After winning the first set, the 92nd-ranked Whoriskey was pushed to a tiebreak in the second before earning a 6-2, 7-6 (4) win.
The Boilermakers return to action Saturday as they host Maryland at 10 a.m. ET.