Feb. 26, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team pulled out a thriller against Eastern Kentucky, 5-2, on Saturday in a match that lasted four hours and 28 minutes.
"Eastern Kentucky came out ready to play," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "They really fought hard, but we expected that. I thought our guys really came out when it counted, though. Some things definitely didn't go our way, but we found a way to win and that's what matters. I have to give credit to Eastern Kentucky as well. They are an NCAA caliber team and they are going to surprise some teams down the road."
Eastern Kentucky (8-3) jumped out to an early doubles lead when Philip Janz and Niklas Schroeder took out Aaron Dujovne and Pawel Poziomski at No. 2. The Boilermakers immediately responded at No. 3. In front of dozens of students debuting the new student section `The Pawel Crew,' Eric Ramos and Mark Kovacs pulled out an 8-3 over Carles Pons and Parul Verma. That meant the No. 1 match would decide the doubles point.
Szymon Tatarczyk and Krisztian Krocsko found themselves in an 8-7 hole against Alex Das and Hugo Klientovsky. With the score 30-30, Tatarczyk came up with two huge serves, the first an ace, to tie the match at eight games apiece. In the tiebreak, Purdue jumped out to a quick start with a 5-2 lead. However, Das and Klientovsky took the final five points of the match to seal the match and the doubles point.
The Colonels carried the momentum into singles play. At No. 1, Das took control from the start and cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Krocsko to give Eastern Kentucky a 2-0 advantage. Things were not looking good for the Boilermakers (5-2) as they dropped four of the six first sets. Despite the team's early struggles, Poziomski played a solid match and came away with a 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 6 to put Purdue on the board.
Kovacs bounced back from a 6-7 (5) loss in the first set to win his next two sets, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 3 to even the score at two. Next, Dujovne got back on track at No. 5. The Santiago, Chile native dropped the first set, 5-7, but seemed to get stronger as the match progressed. He won the final two sets in blowout fashion, 6-2, 6-1, to keep his perfect record intact for the season.
Tatarczyk clinched the win for the Boilermakers with a thrilling match at No. 2. The freshman outlasted Klientovsky in the first set, 7-6 (4), but seemed to wear down in the second. Tatarczyk dropped the second set, 1-6, before answering with an exciting 7-5 win in the final stanza.
The most exciting match of the day came at No. 4 with Ramos facing Schroeder. All seemed lost for Ramos after he lost the first set, 4-6, and trailed 5-2 in the second. However, the senior won the next three games to level the score at five. After dropping the next game, Ramos responded again to force a tiebreak. The Alameda, Calif. native was able to win the tiebreak, 7-5, and force a third set.
Again, Ramos fell behind early. With the score 5-4 in the deciding set, the senior was down 30-40 when he hit what looked to be a winner. The initial call was out which would have ended the match. However, the judge overturned the call to give Ramos the point and keep him alive. He then won the next three points to tie the score at five. Ramos eventually went on to win the set, 7-6 (3), to give the Boilermakers the 5-2 victory.
The Boilermakers return to action tonight at 5 p.m. ET to host Wisconsin-Green Bay at the Schwartz Tennis Center. Live video streaming and scoring for the match can be found at www.purduesports.com.