April 12, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team dropped its final home match of the season Sunday as No. 49 Michigan earned a 6-1 win on the Schwartz Family Outdoor Courts.
"It doesn't feel like we lost 6-1 today," head coach Tim Madden said. "We competed hard from start to finish. We had opportunities to win this match. Michigan was just too good. Our goals have shifted to focusing on the match at hand and this team did that. The guys can be proud of their last weekend at home this year."
Purdue (7-13, 1-7) had to battle back from an early deficit after dropping the doubles point. The Boilermakers' junior duo of Branko Kuzmanovic and P.J. Rose struck first by defeating Andrew Mazlin and Chris Madden 8-5 at No. 2. Mike Sroczynski and Peter Aarts beat junior Paul Foley and sophomore Eric Ramos 8-5 at No. 3 to turn the attention to court one. In the deciding doubles match, Jason Jung and George Navas, the 51st-ranked duo in the NCAA, claimed an 8-6 win over junior Slavko Bijelica and senior Griff Nienberg at No. 1.
Michigan carried its momentum over to singles, where Sroczynski defeated Ramos 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3. Nienberg won his last singles match at home by taking down Aarts 6-4, 6-0 at No. 6. Nienberg swept his singles matches this weekend and has now won three of his last four in singles play.
"I was feeling pretty good today," Nienberg said. "The doubles just didn't go our way. In singles, it felt good to beat a good player. The team's energy was good, and we lost to a real tough team. This isn't a bad loss. (Playing at home for the final time) doesn't feel any different, but it'll probably hit me at the end of the year that this will never happen again."
The Wolverines won the other four singles matches, three of which required three sets to determine a winner, to pull away on the scoreboard. In the final straight-sets match of the day, Madden defeated Rose 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4. At No. 1, 98th-ranked Jung earned a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Bijelica. Drew Daniel withstood a furious comeback from freshman Roberto Cabrini, who trailed 1-6 in the second set tiebreak, to win 6-2, 6-7 (7), 1-0 (6). The final match to be concluded was an exciting battle between Mazlin and Kuzmanovic at No. 2 that saw Mazlin claim a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory for the final margin.
"Griff is a first-class guy when it comes to caring for his team both on and off the court," Madden said. "He has been a dedicated student who has taken care of his academics and made sure other guys have as well. It is special to see him put it all together and play his best singles match of the season today."
Purdue wraps up the regular season next weekend by traveling to No. 33 Minnesota Saturday before moving on to play at No. 58 Iowa Sunday.