April 24, 2009
The sixth-seeded Purdue women's tennis team was defeated 4-1 by third-seeded and 34th-ranked Illinois Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament from the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wis.
Purdue (9-13) dropped the doubles point for the second consecutive day. Amy Allin and Annie McCarthy jumped out and claimed an 8-3 win over freshmen Anna Dushkina and Kay Kay Magi at No. 3. The point was clinched when Megan Fudge and Marisa Lambropoulos defeated freshmen Jennifer Rabot and Remi Martin 8-4 at No. 2. When the point was settled, Michelle Sammons and Stephanie Wooten held a 6-3 lead over Leigh Finnegan and Chelcie Abajian at No. 1.
The singles matches were started at McKee Farms Park, where doubles was contested, but the match was halted and moved indoors to the Nielsen Tennis Center due to gusting winds. Once competition resumed, Dushkina pulled the Boilermakers even with her 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Allin at No. 5. Illinois (18-6) then claimed the next three decisions to clinch the match. Fudge, the 77th-ranked singles player in the NCAA, defeated Sammons 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 to put the Fighting Illini back in the lead.
Abajian then ended Rabot's five-match singles winning streak with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) decision at No. 3. Rabot, a Harlow, Essex, England, native, finished her inaugural collegiate season with a 17-5 dual-match record, including a 9-1 mark in the Big Ten. Rabot's 27 singles wins during the 2008-09 campaign are tied for 10th on Purdue's single-season victory list and are the fifth-most by a freshman in school history. The match was clinched at No. 6, where Kristina Minor defeated Martin 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
There were two singles matches that were not finished because the team winner had been decided. At No. 2, Wooten led Finnegan 6-4, 3-6, 2-0, and junior co-captain Tatiana Ganzha was dominating the second set at No. 4. Lambropoulos took the first set from Ganzha 7-6 (6), but Ganzha was ahead 5-1 in the second when the match was stopped. Wooten, Purdue's lone senior, ends her career with 65 doubles victories, which ranks eighth on the school's career wins list. Wooten and Sammons also are tied for sixth on the single-season wins list by a doubles duo after claiming 19 victories in 2008-09.
Purdue leads the all-time series with Illinois 27-22. The Boilermakers finished their second season under head coach Laura Glitz with exceptional improvement from the first. Purdue doubled last season's conference win total while increasing its overall wins by five from 2008. Sammons was named to the All-Big Ten Team after going 5-5 inside the conference from the No. 1 singles spot. The Boilermakers earned an All-Conference honoree for the fifth consecutive season, which ties the longest streak in program history.