April 27, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 30 Purdue Boilermakers, fifth seeded in the Big Ten Tournament, pulled off one of their biggest wins of the season as they knocked off the fourth seed and No. 17 in the nation Nebraska Cornhuskers, 4-2, in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Nebraska turned the tables from the first time the teams met and came out with the doubles point. Mary Weatherholt and Patricia Veresova were first to finish as the Huskers' No. 2 team knocked off Daniela Vidal and Lynda Xepoleas, 8-5. Nebraska clinched the point the point as the No. 42 doubles team of Madeleine Geibert and Stefanie Weinstein outlasted Jennifer Rabot and Mara Schmidt, 9-7. At that time, Gisella Pere and Imogen Golder were tied at six with the Nebraska No. 3 pair.
The Boilermakers quickly tied the score. Golder dominated her opponent, No. 97 Janine Weinreich, 6-3 in the first set. From there, the Huskers' No. 5 player was forced to retire with a knee injury giving the Boilermakers the point. Next, Pere gave Purdue the lead with a win at No. 6. The junior beat Jennifer Holmberg, 6-1, 6-2. Nebraska was able to tie the score back up with a win at No. 2. The No. 111 player in the country, Patricia Veresova, a second team all-Big Ten selection this season, knocked off Xepoleas, 6-1, 6-4.
Purdue retook the lead after its top player and first team all-conference selection continued her dominant run. Rabot defeated the Big Ten Athlete of the Year and nation's No. 45 overall player Weatherholt, 6-2, 7-5, at No. 1. The win was Rabot's third ranked victory in her last four singles matches. Then, Schmidt clinched the win with a win over Geibert, a player she lost to earlier in the season. Schmidt took the No. 3 match, 6-4, 6-2, to send the Old Gold and Black into the semifinals.
The Boilermakers will play against Northwestern on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed in the tournament and knocked off the Ohio State Buckeyes, 4-0, on Friday. Purdue and Northwestern met last weekend in Evanston, Ill., and the Wildcats won, 5-2. A full recap of that match can be found here. Live scoring will be available at PurdueSports.com or through the GameDay Central page.