Nov. 2, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team completed its fall tournament schedule at the Big Ten Singles Championships in East Lansing, Mich.
Senior P.J. Rose alternated wins and losses throughout his four singles appearances. The Highland, Ill., native began his tournament with a 7-6 (7), 6-3 victory over Michigan State's Will Davis before falling 7-5, 6-4 to Eddie Bouchier from Penn State. Rose bounced back with a 7-5, 7-5 defeat of Stephen Vogl of Indiana and wrapped up his run with a 7-5, 0-6, 11-9 defeat at the hands of Minnesota's Julian Dehn. Rose ends the fall with a 10-3 singles mark, which gives him the most wins on the team and best winning percentage out of the players that appeared in all four tournaments.
Fellow senior Paul Foley also played to a .500 winning percentage in the fall's final tournament. The Dublin, Ireland, native picked up a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Michigan State's Brendan Kinkopf and then fell 6-1, 6-1 to Jonathon Hadash from Minnesota.
Sophomore Matt Manasse and freshman Billy Heuer each earned one victory. Manasse defeated Michigan State's John Stratton 6-4, 6-3 after falling to Iowa's Tommy McGeorge 7-6 (4), 6-1 and before being defeated 6-0, 6-1 by Bryan Welmetz from Penn State. Heuer also sandwiched his victory around two losses. Penn State's Jason Lee earned a 6-2, 6-1 win, and Heuer bounced back with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Duncan Muil from Michigan. Heuer's tournament ended with a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Minnesota's Brendan Ruddock.
Senior Slavko Bijelica played one singles match and was defeated 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (5) by Iowa's Austen Kauss. Sophomore Jan-Frans Engelbrecht dropped both of his decisions as he fell 6-1, 6-0 to Indiana's Josh McTaggart and 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 to C.J. Griffin from Penn State.
Rose and Foley teamed up in doubles for the first time this fall and went 2-2. The duo was defeated 8-6 by Andrew McCarthy and Eric Spector from Northwestern before beating McTaggart and Santiago Grueter 9-8 (3). The duo then fell 8-6 to Michael Sicora and Phillip Arndt from Minnesota and wrapped up play with an 8-2 defeat of Michael Dierberger and Billy Bertha from Wisconsin.
Bijelica and Manasse earned two victories, while Engelbrecht and Heuer added another. Bijelica and Manasse fell 8-5 to Guillaume St. Maurice and Taylor Cohen from Penn State and then defeated Michigan State's Will Davis and Denis Bogatov 9-7 before dropping a 9-7 decision to Hadash and Connor Roth from Illinois, who had teamed up as the odd-man out on their respective teams. Bijelica and Mansse ended their tournament with an 8-5 victory over Engelbrecht and Heuer. Engelbrecht and Heuer also lost their first match, an 8-5 final to Bryan Welnetz and C.J. Griffin from Penn State before bouncing back with a 9-8 (6) victory over Kinkopf and Clark Richardson. Purdue's duo then fell 8-4 to Ruddock and Eddie Svenda to set up the match with Bijelica and Manasse.
Purdue now takes two months off before the spring portion of the schedule begins. The Boilermaker Invitational, set for Jan. 16-17, marks the team's return to the courts.