March 17, 2009
The Purdue men's tennis team was defeated by Princeton 4-3 Tuesday at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif.
"Adjusting to the outdoor environment is critical, and we didn't do that," head coach Tim Madden said. "We reacted too much today instead of being proactive. Part of that is playing outside, but Princeton has to deal with coming outside for the first time as well. We played very average tennis. We were in position to win doubles and let it slip away. In singles, it's difficult because you have to feel like down low someone is going to come through."
Purdue (5-8) got behind early after dropping the doubles point. Junior Branko Kuzmanovic and senior P.J. Rose put the Boilermakers ahead initially with an 8-3 defeat of Ryan Kim and Ilya Trubov at No. 2. George Carpeni and Yehoi Shoji handed sophomore Eric Ramos and freshman Thomas Wilson their first loss this season by taking down the duo 8-6 at No. 3. The point was decided at the No. 1 position, where Peter Capkovic and Alex Vuckovic defeated junior Slavko Bijelica and senior Griff Nienberg 9-7.
Princeton (6-5) extended its lead by winning the first two singles matches. Coleman Crutchfield handed Jan-Frans Engelbrecht a 6-1, 6-0 loss at No. 6, and Kim defeated Rose 7-5, 6-1 at No. 5. The Boilermakers got on the board at the No. 3 position when Ramos picked up a 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 win over Carpeni.
The Tigers clinched the match in the next decision as Charlie Brosens ended Roberto Cabrini's winning streak at three with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 4. Bijelica, ranked 93rd in the NCAA in singles, improved to 10-3 and won his fourth consecutive match by defeating Capkovic 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 at the No. 1 position. The final margin was reached when Kuzmanovic picked up his second straight win, a 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 decision over Vukovic at No. 2.
Princeton leads the all-time series 3-0. All three matches between the two programs have been played in San Diego. Purdue returns to action Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M., when it takes on New Mexico at 3 p.m. ET.