April 20, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Another Big Ten match, another heartbreaker for the Boilermakers. Purdue fell to No. 44 Northwestern on Friday, 5-2, in the final home match of the season at the Schwartz Tennis Center.
Purdue (10-14, 2-8 Big Ten) had a huge win in doubles. After losing at No. 2, 8-5, it wasn't looking good for the Boilermakers as the remaining matches were back and forth. However, Pawel Poziomski and Mark Kovacs squeaked out a 9-7 win at No. 3 to even the doubles score at one. Then, the nation's No. 73 pair of Aaron Dujovne and Diego Acosta rallied from down 3-0 to win 9-7 over the No. 72 duo of Spencer Wolf and Josh Graves to clinch the point.
Northwestern (14-8, 7-3) stormed back in singles. Raleigh Smith evened the score with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 3 over Szymon Tatarczyk. Then, Graves narrowly knocked off Purdue's top singles player, Kovacs, with a 7-5, 7-5 win. Purdue evened the score at two with a win at No. 5. Dujovne was dominant with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Alex Pasareanu.
Sid Balaji clinched the match for the Wildcats with a hard fought three setter at No. 4. Balaji outlasted Krisztian Krocsko, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5). Northwestern won the final two matches at No. 2 and No. 6 in three sets to make the final 5-2.
Northwestern now leads the series 63-20-2.
Purdue will wrap up the regular season on Sunday at Illinois. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET.