March 21, 2009
The Purdue men's tennis team was defeated by No. 32 New Mexico 6-1 Saturday at the Lobo Tennis Club in Albuquerque, N.M.
"This week has been our transition to outdoor tennis," head coach Tim Madden said. "We are making progress, but it's coming slowly. In singles, we lost five first sets. Early in the second sets, our guys competed and turned around the momentum of the match. I will give them credit, they fought hard to make it interesting, but New Mexico, in their place, on their courts, at altitude, wouldn't let us back in it. We are down but fighting hard. The important thing is we focus on that."
Purdue (5-9) fell behind early by dropping the doubles point. Ben Dunbar and Elliot Chang put the Lobos ahead early with an 8-3 win over Paul Foley and Eric Ramos at No. 3. New Mexico (13-2) clinched the point when Johnny Parkes and Miles Bugby beat Slavko Bijelica and Griff Nienberg 8-2 at No. 1. The Boilermakers picked up a win at No. 2, where Thomas Wilson and P.J. Rose, playing together for the first time this season, defeated Graeme Kassautzki and Joe Wood 8-5.
New Mexico extended its lead in the match as play shifted to singles. Parkes ended Bijelica's four-match winning streak with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1. The Boilermakers got on the board and Rose improved to 8-5 this season with his 6-2, 6-4 victory over Chang at the No. 4 position. Phil Anderson defeated Foley 6-3, 7-5 at No. 6.
The Lobos clinched the match at No. 2 when Kassautzki defeated Ramos 6-4, 7-6 (3). The remaining two matches each required three sets to settle on a winner. Bugby defeated Roberto Cabrini 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 3, and the final margin was reached when Dunbar beat Nienberg 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 at No. 5.
Saturday marked the first match ever contested between New Mexico and Purdue. The Boilermakers return to action Tuesday as they host Indiana State at 2 p.m. ET. Admission to the match is free.