March 21, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team defeated Lewis University 6-1 Sunday afternoon on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"It was good to come out and win," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "Both of our opponents played competitively, and that's what we were expecting. It was good to see our guys keep their focus and execute. I'm looking forward to a good week of practice on the outside courts before we travel to Boise."
Purdue (9-5) swept the doubles point for the second time Sunday and the fourth time this season. Senior P.J. Rose and freshman Billy Heuer defeated Jesse Hardacre and Nick Heidenfelder 8-1 at No. 3 before senior Paul Foley and junior Eric Ramos clinched the point with an 8-2 win over Mike Wojnarowski and Lorenz Pestinger at No. 2. Seniors Slavko Bijelica and Branko Kuzmanovic earned their second shutout win of the day by beating Uno Lapimaa and Tonis Irdoja 8-0 at No. 1 to complete the sweep.
The Boilermakers continued to roll when the match moved to singles. Rose won his second singles match of the day by taking down Wojnarowski 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3. Kuzmanovic and Ramos then finished their matches in quick succession. Kuzmanovic defeated Irdoja 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 to finish his day having dropped only three of 43 games played between singles and doubles competition. Ramos clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Hardacre at No. 3.
The next two matches also were completed at nearly the same time. Foley finished off his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Pestinger at No. 5 to stretch his team-leading dual-match singles wins total to 10 right before Heuer completed a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Heidenfelder at No. 6. The final match left on court was at the No. 1 position. Lewis (5-4) avoided the shutout when Lapimaa earned a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Bijelica.
The Boilermakers, who defeated Western Illinois earlier Sunday, improved to 9-1 this season at the Schwartz Tennis Center. The home win total is the most for a Purdue team since the 2002 squad also won nine, and this year's group has four more matches in West Lafayette.
Purdue next heads to Boise, Idaho, to play in the Boise State Spring Break Classic. The tournament runs Saturday and Sunday from the Appleton Tennis Center.