April 11, 2010
The Purdue men's tennis team took down 48th-ranked Northwestern 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center in Evanston, Ill., to earn its first Big Ten win of 2010.
"This was a great team effort," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "We came out on a mission in doubles and won the points that counted. We had great fan support today, and the guys really fed off of their cheers. Being up a doubles point is a very good position to be in on the road, and you could tell from our players that this was going to be our day. The seniors had a much better day today. They rebounded well from a poor day yesterday. This gives us some momentum to go back and work hard for another road trip next week."
Purdue (11-10, 1-5 Big Ten) started the day by winning the doubles point for the first time in conference play and 10th time this season. Seniors Slavko Bijelica and Branko Kuzmanovic defeated Tobias Reitz and Andrew McCarthy 8-3 at No. 1 before Joshua Graves and Spencer Wolf earned an 8-4 victory over senior P.J. Rose and sophomore Thomas Wilson at No. 2 to even the point. Junior Eric Ramos and senior Paul Foley swung the point Purdue's way by outlasting Alex Sanborn and Eric Spector 9-7 at No. 3.
The Boilermakers continued to pile up victories as the match moved to singles. Kuzmanovic won his seventh dual-match singles contest and second against conference competition when he beat McCarthy 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2. Foley brought Purdue within one point of victory and earned his first Big Ten win of the season when he defeated Reitz 7-5, 6-1 at No. 5. Northwestern (9-10, 1-5) got on the board with the next completed match as Sanborn earned a 6-4, 6-2 win over Wilson at No. 6.
Ramos clinched the match at No. 4, where he defeated Wolf 6-2, 6-2. The win was Ramos' third in a row and 12th in dual-match singles competition, which betters his previous career high of 11 set in 2008. Graves, the 84th-ranked singles player in the NCAA, earned the Wildcats' final win of the day when he finished off a 7-5, 6-4 win over Bijelica at No. 1. Rose brought the match to its final margin by defeating Sidarth Balaji 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 at No. 2. Rose's win, which is his 20th this year, improved Purdue to 17-9 in three-set matches this season.
Sunday's victory gives Purdue its highest-ranked win since taking down 41st-ranked Harvard on Feb. 4, 2006. The team, which earned a win on the road for the first time this season, won a Big Ten away match for the first time since March 30, 2008, when it defeated Northwestern 5-2. The Boilermakers improved to 8-2 this season when winning the doubles point.
Purdue earned its 21st victory in the all-time series, which dates back to 1921, and second in the last three meetings. The Boilermakers return to action Saturday when they play at Michigan State.