April 5, 2013
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 63 Purdue men's team put forth one of its best efforts of the season on Friday. The Boilermakers blanked the No. 58 Nebraska Cornhuskers, 7-0, in the first outdoor home match of the season.
Purdue (15-7, 2-4 B1G) started the afternoon by taking the doubles point. Nebraska took the No. 1 match as Andre Stenger and Eric Sock defeated Szymon Tatarczyk and Krisztian Krocsko, 8-5. Purdue responded with almost simultaneous wins at Nos. 2 and 3. Evan Hawkins and Mark Kovacs knocked off Scott Elsass and Brandon Videtich, 8-6, at No. 3. Moments later, Aaron Dujovne and Pawel Poziomski clinched the point with an 8-6 win of their own at No. 2 over Dusty Boyer and Bradford Zitsch.
Purdue is now 15-1 when it wins the doubles point.
The Boilermakers ran with that momentum in singles as all six courts were won in straight sets. Poziomski topped Marc Herrmann at No. 3, 6-3, 6-2, to give Purdue a 2-0 lead. Kovacs then brought the team within a point of victory with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 2 over Boyer. Mateus Silva clinched the match with one of his strongest efforts of the year. He knocked off Zitsch, 6-2, 6-2, after winning the final six games of the match.
Nebraska (10-9, 2-3) nearly took a set in each of the final three matches, but came up just short. Krocsko made the score 5-0 with a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 5. The senior knocked off Sebastian Florczyk. Dujovne then held on against Tom Blackwell. The Santiago, Chile, native took the first set, 6-4, before rallying back to take the second set, 7-5, at No. 4. Tatarczyk completed the sweep with a tight match at No. 1. He held of Stenger, who was a point away from taking the second set multiple times, 7-5, 7-6 (5).
The sweep is Purdue's seventh of the year and the first against a ranked foe. It also takes a series lead against Nebraska as the Boilermakers improve to 2-1 in all-time dual season history.
The Boilermakers have now reached the 15-win plateau for the ninth time in program history and the first time since 1999 when the team went 17-8.
Purdue will be back in action on Sunday as it hosts the Iowa Hawkeyes. The match is scheduled for noon ET on the Schwartz Family Outdoor Courts at the Schwartz Tennis Center, weather permitting.