April 3, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 60 Purdue men's tennis team won the doubles point and forced four matches into three sets, but No. 13 Illinois was too much for the Boilermakers as it held on to win, 6-1, on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"Today indicated that we can compete with teams ranked in the top 15," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "After winning doubles, we had four matches go three sets. For the most part, today's match was even. We still need to learn to close on our opportunities and convert our chances. Illinois had the experience and it showed. They have been in these types of situations which helped them."
Purdue (10-9, 1-4 Big Ten) brought an energetic attack into doubles as it earned the point for just the sixth time this season. Szymon Tatarczyk and Pawel Poziomski were first done as they finished off Brian Alden and Johnny Hamui at the top spot, 9-7. Just moments later, Aaron Dujovne and Mark Kovacs completed a thrilling 8-6 win over Roy Kalmanovich and Dennis Nevolo at No. 3, 8-6, to secure the doubles point for Purdue. The Illini's Stephen Hoh and Abe Souza knocked off Eric Ramos and Krisztian Krocsko, 8-5, to round out doubles play.
Illinois (11-8, 3-2) stormed back in singles play. Kalmanovich put together a 6-2, 6-0 drubbing of Tatarczyk at No. 2 to tie the team score at one. The Fighting Illini took the lead after Nevolo, the 9th-ranked individual in the country, took down Krocsko at No. 1, 6-1, 6-4.
Poziomski battled back after dropping his first set, 1-6, at No. 6 to win the second, 6-3. However, in the definitive frame Abdelnour prevailed, 6-1. Illinois clinched the win after Hoh bounced back from a 2-6 first set loss to win the final two, 6-4, 6-1, over Ramos at No. 4. Souza, the 61st-ranked player nationally, came back from a 3-6 setback in the first to win the next two, 6-3, 6-4, over Kovacs at No. 3. Dujovne's comeback effort came up just short as he lost to Connor Roth, 1-6, 6-2, 4-6, at No. 5 to end the match.
The Boilermakers will hit the road next week as they travel to Wisconsin on Friday and Minnesota on Sunday. Friday's match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. CT and Sunday's at noon CT.