Jan. 16, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team collected 12 victories Saturday as the Boilermaker Invitational opened on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"This was a good day of competition," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "We were able to play a lot of different combinations, and the guys were very eager to play another team. I'm looking forward to finishing strong tomorrow."
Purdue began the invitational by being on court against six of Western Michigan's players in singles. Senior P.J. Rose grabbed a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Michael Calderone at the No. 1 position. Classmate Slavko Bijelica defeated Kazuya Komada 6-3, 7-6 (1) at No. 2, and fellow senior Paul Foley picked up a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Casey Cullen at No. 4.
In the only three-set match during the first time slot, Pablo Olivarez was pushed by junior Eric Ramos at No. 3 before ultimately prevailing 6-4, 6-7 (7), 1-0 (10). The Broncos also picked up wins on the back end of the lineup as Simon Blomberg beat sophomore Matt Manasse 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 and Brad Noel earned a 6-4, 6-0 win over freshman Billy Heuer at No 6.
Foley and Manasse, playing at the No. 3 doubles spot for the Boilermakers, defeated Blomberg and Michael Basha 8-3. Bijelica and sophomore Thomas Wilson fell 8-6 to Ohio State's Mike O'Connell and Steven Williams at No. 2, and the Buckeyes' No. 1 tandem of Dino Marcan and Balazs Novak grabbed a victory over Rose and Ramos by the same score.
In their second session of singles play, the Boilermakers won all six matches while facing six of Valparaiso's finest. Ramos quickly dispatched of Chris Baum 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3, and Manasse took down Kevin DeHerrera 6-3, 6-0 at No. 5. Wilson was the next to finish as he put his 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Sidd Mehta at the No. 6 position in the books.
Purdue's senior trio of Rose, Bijelica and Foley wrapped up sweeps of their singles play for the day. Rose posted a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Tom Litscher at No. 1, while Foley defeated Kyle Stump 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 and Bijelica took down Adam Whitner 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 2 position.
Foley and Manasse almost won again at No. 3 doubles, but Western Michigan's tandem of Michael and Thomas Calderone won the match 9-8 (2). Zeyad Montasser teamed with Komada to pick up a 9-7 victory over Rose and Ramos at No. 1, and Cullen and Olivarez earned an 8-6 win over Bijelica and Wilson.
Sophomore Jan-Frans Engelbrecht, playing as part of Ohio State's singles lineup since the Buckeyes only brought four players, dropped the first set but rebounded to take home a 0-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10) victory over Eastern Kentucky's Parul Verma at the No. 5 spot. Engelbrecht also teamed with Heuer for the No. 3 spot in Ohio State's doubles lineup and earned an 8-2 victory over Baum and Michael Woodson. Engelbrecht and Heuer both dropped their final singles match of the day when Blomberg beat Engelbrecht 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4 and Michael Basha won 6-3, 6-3 over Heuer at No. 5.
The Boilermaker Invitational concludes Sunday. Action begins at 9 a.m. ET, and admission is free.