Nov. 7, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Boilermakers women's tennis team wrapped up the final day of the Schwartz Tennis Challenge in a big way on Sunday as it won five of its six individual doubles matches and the lone singles match.
In the morning, Purdue faced Iowa in doubles play. At the No. 1 spot, Jennifer Rabot and Mara Schmidt took out Talcott and Harazin, 8-2. Gisella Pere and Imogen Golder had a tough match at No. 2 as the duo fell to Silver and Zordani, 8-4. Freshmen Lynda Xepoleas and Daniela Vidal secured the win for Purdue with an 8-3 win over Escobar and Majercik at No. 3, 8-3. Purdue also knocked off Iowa in singles play earlier in the weekend, 5-1.
In the afternoon, the Boilermakers faced Illinois in doubles. On Saturday, the Boilermakers and Illini split their singles match, 3-3. That would mean in a true dual match that the doubles would decide the outcome. At No. 1, Rabot and Schmidt knocked off Lambropolous and Falkin, 8-5. Pere and Golder atoned for their morning loss with a back and forth 9-7 win at No. 2 over Abajian and Smutko. Xepoleas and Anna Dushkina made it a clean sweep with an 8-3 win at No. 3.
Vidal also played in a singles match against Illinois' Allin due to an illness to the scheduled opponent from Iowa. Vidal played a solid match and came out victorious, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
The Boilermakers wrapped up a strong overall weekend. Had the weekend been a true dual meet, Purdue would have beaten Vanderbilt, a Sweet 16 team from last season, 5-2. The Old Gold and Black also would have knocked off Big Ten foes Iowa, 6-1, and Illinois, 4-3. Purdue's only loss would have been to Georgia Tech, a Sweet 16 team from last season that currently has five individuals in the rankings. That match score would have been 6-1, though three of the Yellow Jackets' singles wins came in close third set tiebreakers.
The Schwartz Tennis Challenge wrapped up a successful fall for the Purdue women. Freshmen Xepoleas and Vidal got their first taste of college tennis and more than held their own. The rest of the team has also seen vast improvement from a year ago.