April 19, 2009
The Purdue men's tennis team ended the regular season with a 4-3 loss to No. 63 Iowa Sunday at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex in Iowa City, Iowa.
"All of the guys were competing this weekend," head coach Tim Madden said. "Today's doubles is a pretty good example of that. At No. 2, we were off a bit, but No. 1 and No. 3 came through. When you look at another 4-3 loss, obviously it's disappointing, but the guys could have gone away. I'm glad they understand that they need to keep competing no matter what, and they did that today."
Purdue (7-15, 1-9) jumped out to an early advantage by taking two of the three doubles decisions. Will Vasos and Tommy McGeorge handed Purdue's junior duo of Branko Kuzmanovic and P.J. Rose its first loss in the last six matches with an 8-4 victory at No. 2. The Boilermakers evened the competition at No. 3 when sophomore Eric Ramos and freshman Thomas Wilson defeated Greg Holm and Tom Mroziewicz 8-5. The point was decided at No. 1, where junior Slavko Bijelica and senior Griff Nienberg beat Christian Bierich and Nikita Zokov, the 53rd-ranked doubles team in the NCAA, 8-6.
Iowa (12-8, 4-6) evened the match as the teams moved to singles play. McGeorge defeated Nienberg 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 to tie the team score. Kuzmanovic gave the Boilermakers the lead again with his 6-4, 6-3 win over Reinoud Haal at No. 2. Freshman Roberto Cabrini increased the lead by taking down Mroziewicz 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5.
The Hawkeyes, however, claimed the final three singles decisions to win the match. Vasos beat Rose 7-6, 6-3 at No. 4 to pull Iowa within one, and Zotov tied it for the final time by defeating Ramos 7-6, 6-1 at No. 3. The final match required three sets to determine a winner, but Bierich outlasted Bijelica and clinched the win for Iowa with his 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win at the No. 1 position.
Purdue falls to 1-8, including 0-4 in the Big Ten, this season in matches decided by a 4-3 score. The Boilermakers return to the court Thursday when they open the Big Ten Tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich. Purdue, which earned the 10th seed in this year's tournament, squares off against seventh-seeded Penn State at 3 p.m. ET.