Feb. 21, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team lost a home match for the first time this season as Illinois State earned a 4-3 victory Sunday afternoon on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"We are still searching for the best combinations in doubles," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "That again proved to be a crucial point in the match. I think we competed hard in singles, and we still had chances to win the match even though this wasn't our best day. I have to give credit to P.J. (Rose) for fighting hard, especially after he turned his ankle during doubles. We have to regroup. We have a hard week of practice in front of us to get ready for our next match."
All three doubles matches were played to 8-6 finals. Illinois State (6-3) took an early advantage when Alexander Pelaez and Michael Hobson earned a win at No. 3 over junior Eric Ramos and sophomore Thomas Wilson. Purdue (7-2) pulled even at No. 2, where seniors Paul Foley and Branko Kuzmanovic defeated Filip Miljevic and Skip Span. Timon Reichelt and Matej Zlatkovic won at the top spot over seniors P.J. Rose and Slavko Bijelica to clinch the match's opening point.
The Redbirds extended their lead as Pelaez handed Ramos just his second loss this season by taking a 6-2, 6-4 decision at No. 3 singles. Wilson got Purdue on the scoreboard with his 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Xavier Riart-Ferrer at No. 6. Foley earned his team-leading seventh singles win this season and tied the match as he beat Span 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5.
Illinois State jumped back in the lead after Zlatkovic played to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kuzmanovic at No. 4. Bijelica evened things up for the Boilermakers one final time as he battled back to defeat Reichelt 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2. All eyes then turned to the No. 1 singles match, where Rose and Miljevic were putting on an exciting back-and-forth show. Rose fought off two match points while serving in the third set, but Mijevic eventually grabbed a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory.
Purdue dropped a contest at home for the first time this season after earning six consecutive wins and fell to 2-1 in matches decided by one point. The Boilermakers had their six-match winning streak in the series snapped, but still hold a 10-9 lead all-time against the Redbirds.
Purdue returns to action Saturday when it faces its second road contest of the season at Western Michigan.