Jan. 19, 2014
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 27 Purdue women's tennis team flexed its strength over No. 70 Louisville in singles action in the final day of the Purdue Invite Sunday at the Basham Courts of the Schwartz Tennis Center. The Boilermakers took five of six matches from the Cardinals; highlighted by a thrilling back and forth battle in the No. 1 spot that saw Purdue's Lynda Xepoleas emerge victorious.
After taking the first set in a come from behind tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-5), Xepoleas surrendered the second set to Louisville's Rebecca Shine, 7-5, to force a match tiebreaker. The junior from Huntington Beach, Calif., regained control of the match and put Shine away, 10-6, for her second singles win of the weekend.
Decisive match tiebreakers were also needed to clinch wins for Krisztina Kapitany and Andjela Djokovic at the Nos. 4 and 5 positions, respectively. Kapitany dropped the first set to Elle Stokes, 6-2, but battled for a 6-4 decision in the second set and a 10-3 win via tiebreaker. Djokovic, a freshman hailing from Jindalee, Australia, bounced back from a 6-4 loss to Olivia Boesing in the first for a 6-3 win in the second. The Cardinal wouldn't go down without a fight, but it was Djokovic taking an 11-9 victory in the breaker.
Daniela Vidal made easy work of Louisville's Cassie Pough at No. 3 singles, posting a straight-set victory, 6-0, 6-2, to push her record to 4-0. In the No. 6 spot, freshman Natalia Davila had a short match with Rebecca Bodine, winning the first set 6-2, only to have Bodine retire before the second set got underway.
The Boilermakers will be back in action on Jan. 25 as a part of the 2014 ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted by No. 13 Clemson. They will take on No. 31 Tennessee at the Hoake Sloan Tennis Center at 1 p.m. ET. No. 56 Fresno State is the fourth team that will be competing at the Clemson site, which is one of 15 across the country. The 15 schools that win both of their matches at their respective site will be invited to play in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship to be held Feb. 7-10 at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.