April 2, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 60 Purdue men's tennis team dropped a heartbreaker to No. 62 Iowa after winning five first sets in singles play on Saturday afternoon on the outdoor courts the Schwartz Tennis Center, 4-3.
"We need to get better," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "We are too far into the season to be making the same mistakes. The doubles point proved to be the deciding factor and unfortunately we didn't get our usual performances from some of our spots. Iowa was tougher than we were at the end of the day. We need to regroup because we have a tough match tomorrow."
Iowa (8-6, 2-2 Big Ten) picked up a hard-fought doubles point after dropping the first match. Pawel Poziomski and Szymon Tatarczyk won the first match for the Boilermakers by an 8-5 margin at No. 2. Eric Ramos and Krisztian Krocsko found themselves in a 4-4 tie, but dropped the final four games to lose at No. 1, 8-4. Aaron Dujovne and Mark Kovacs were in the exact same situation and also fell, 8-4.
Purdue (10-8, 1-3) came out firing in singles. Ramos put together a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Austen Kauss at No. 4 to tie the team score at one. Krocsko was next to finish for the Boilermakers. After dropping the first two games at No. 2, the sophomore won eight straight to win the first set and take a 2-0 lead in the second. Krocsko then won four of the next six games to clinch his match over Will Vasos, 6-2, 6-2.
The Hawkeyes answered the Boilermakers' surge with a dominating performance of their own at No. 5. Garret Dunn put together an impressive 6-2, 6-2 thumping. The 6'8 sophomore used his size to control the net and get the best of Dujovne. Purdue retook the lead after Kovacs held off Nikita Zotov at No. 3, 6-2, 7-5.
As the intensity of the final two matches picked up, so did the wind. Marc Bruche used the blustery conditions to his favor as he overcame a first set setback to win over Tatarczyk, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, to tie the team score at three. Just moments later, Tom Mroziewicz completed his come-from-behind win at No. 6, 6-7 (0), 6-4, 6-3, over Poziomski. Mroziewicz's victory secured the comeback win for Iowa.
Purdue returns to the courts tomorrow to face No. 13 Illinois. The match is scheduled to start at noon ET at the Schwartz Tennis Center. The match will be played outside, weather permitting. Live scoring can be found at purduesports.com.