April 17, 2010
The Purdue men's tennis team was handed a 5-2 defeat by Michigan State on Saturday afternoon at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing, Mich.
"We were pretty aggressive in doubles and did some good things," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to hold onto that and they jumped on us pretty quickly in singles. We fought hard, but were not able to convert some opportunities. It was a pretty close match, but they wanted it more today. This was a disappointing loss, but we have to get ready for our next match tomorrow."
Purdue (11-11, 1-6 Big Ten) won the doubles point for the second straight match and 11th time this season. Senior Paul Foley and sophomore Thomas Wilson, paired up for the first time, defeated Joe Vallee and Jason Norville 8-4, and senior P.J. Rose and junior Eric Ramos defeated Clark Richardson and Denis Bogatov 8-5 at No. 3. Austin Brooks and John Stratton prevented a Boilermaker sweep by earning an 8-6 win over seniors Branko Kuzmanovic and Slavko Bijelica at No. 1.
Ramos won his fourth singles match in a row to provide Purdue with its second point. The Alameda, Calif., native improved to 13-8 this season and upped his Big Ten record to 4-3 when Stratton was forced to retire with an injury at No. 4. Stratton had won the first set 6-0 before Ramos stormed back to take the second 6-4 and hold a 2-1 lead in the third.
Michigan State (13-11, 1-7) won the other five singles matches to claim the win. Ronnie Hulewicz earned a 6-1, 6-0 win over Bijelica at No. 1, and Brooks took a 6-2, 6-3 decision from Rose at No. 2. In an extremely even-played contest, Bogatov grabbed his team-leading 17th win of the year 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) over Kuzmanovic at No. 3. Vallee earned a 6-3, 6-4 win over Foley at No. 5, and Richardson battled back for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over Wilson at No. 6.
The Spartans halted a five-match losing streak in the series and now hold a 40-27 all-time advantage. The Boilermakers return to action Sunday when they play at 25th-ranked Michigan. The match is scheduled to start at noon ET from the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., and live results can be found at purduesports.com.