April 22, 2012
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Purdue men's tennis team was knocked off on Sunday at No. 20 Illinois. Aaron Dujovne and Evan Hawkins picked up singles wins, but the Fighting Illini won, 5-2.
Illinois (14-6) came out and took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3. Stephen Hoh and Farris Gosea were first with a win at No. 3 over Mark Kovacs and Pawel Poziomski, 8-4. Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon clinched the point with a win at No. 2 over Krisztian Krocsko and Szymon Tatarczyk, 8-5. The Purdue No. 1 team of Dujovne and Diego Acosta, ranked No. 73 in the nation, pulled off its third ranked upset in the last four matches with a win over No. 20 Dennis Nevolo and Roy Kalmanovich, 8-6.
Purdue (10-15, 2-9 Big Ten) saw the deficit grow to 2-0 after losing at No. 4. Kopinski knocked of Krocsko, 6-2, 6-3. No. 30 Kalmanovich was next with a win at No. 2. He knocked off Acosta, 6-2, 6-4. The Boilermakers finally got on the board with a win at No. 6. Hawkins knocked off Guignon, 6-2, 7-5.
The Fighting Illini clinched the match with a win at No. 3. Bruno Abdelnour topped Tatarczyk, 6-4, 6-3. Kovacs played tough again against one of the nation's best. He narrowly fell in the first set, 7-6, before winning the second, 6-4. In the third, though, he lost, 6-3, to Nevolo, the No. 7 player in the nation. Dujove wrapped up the action with a 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 win at No. 5.
Illinois is now 83-10-1 all-time against Purdue.
The Boilermakers will now wait for the Big Ten Tournament draws for next weekend. Those draws will be released early in the week.