Jan. 24, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team held off Butler and earned a 4-3 win Sunday on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
Purdue (3-0) jumped out to an early lead by winning the doubles point for the third time in as many matches this season. Senior Slavko Bijelica and sophomore Thomas Wilson started the action with an 8-3 victory over Ben Raynauld and Bryce Warren at No. 1. The point was clinched at No. 2, where senior P.J. Rose and junior Eric Ramos defeated Chris Herron and Zach Ervin 8-5. Senior Paul Foley and sophomore Matt Manasse completed the sweep with an 8-6 defeat of Lenz Theodor and Stephen McLoughlin at the No. 3 position.
Butler (0-3) pulled even when the match moved into singles play as Ervin claimed a 6-3, 6-1 decision over sophomore Jan-Frans Engelbrecht at No. 6. Foley kept his unbeaten start to the dual-match schedule alive with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Theodor at No. 4. The Bulldogs pulled the match even again when Brandon Bayliss won 7-6 (3), 6-2 at No. 5 just seconds before Bijelica finished his 6-2, 7-6 (3) defeat of Herron at the top position in the lineup.
The Bulldogs evened the match once again following Reynauld's 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Rose at No. 2. The team victory was decided at No. 3, which was the only contest to be stretched the distance. In a match full of momentum swings, Ramos pulled out a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory to keep the Boilermakers undefeated.
"I'm very happy for Eric," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "He's come a long way since the fall semester, and we are looking for great things from in our dual-match season. Paul had another good match, and Slavko got the job done for us. We worked on doubles a lot last week, and that was the difference in the match. We are still searching for our ideal lineup and looking for some underclassmen to step up."
Purdue won its 25th straight match against Butler and now leads the all-time series 37-2. The Boilermakers complete their Sunday doubleheader by hosting Dayton at 6:30 p.m. ET.