March 28, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's tennis team was defeated 4-3 Saturday by No. 37 Indiana on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"The hardest thing about this match was that I believe we outplayed Indiana," head coach Laura Glitz said. "It was our match to win, but we let it slip away. In order to move on in the Big Ten, we need to break down that barrier and close out these kinds of matches."
Purdue (5-9, 1-3) quickly fell at No. 2 doubles, where Sigrid Fischer and Charlotte Martin defeated junior Tatiana Ganzha and freshman Remi Martin, who were paired together for just the third time this season, 8-3. Indiana (10-7, 2-2) clinched the doubles point at No. 3 when Myriam Sopel and Lindsey Stuckey defeated Purdue's freshman duo of Anna Dushkina and Jennifer Rabot 8-5. At the No. 1 spot, senior Stephanie Wooten and junior Michelle Sammons defeated Alba Berdala and Katya Zapadalova 8-5 to improve to 9-5 this season.
The Boilermakers jumped in front with victories in the first two singles matches. Rabot improved to 11-3 this season as she defeated Fischer 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 4 position. Following in Rabot's footsteps was Wooten, who gained a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 2 over Martin.
Indiana pulled even at No. 5 singles when Stuckey defeated Martin 6-4, 6-0. The Hoosiers moved into the lead as Berdala claimed a 6-2, 7-5 decision over Ganzha at No. 3. The match was clinched when Sopel defeated Dushkina 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 at No. 6. In the final match completed, Sammons defeated Zapadalova 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted almost 3 hours.
Saturday's match is the fourth consecutive meeting between Purdue and Indiana to end with a 4-3 score, a streak that began when the Boilermakers defeated the Hoosiers in the quarterfinals of the 2006 Big Ten tournament. Purdue returns to the court April 4 when the Boilermakers travel to face Wisconsin in a match that begins at noon ET.