March 28, 2014
MINNEAPOLIS - With the doubles point hanging on her shoulders and ultimately the match, Purdue's Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum came through in the clutch twice to lift the women's tennis team to a 4-3 win over No. 63 Minnesota Friday at the Baseline Tennis Center. The win comes at a pivotal point in the season as the No. 46 Boilermakers, now 6-7, 2-2 Big Ten, had lost their three previous matches. Purdue also deals the Gophers their first loss in league play as they are now 13-4, 3-1 Big Ten.
With the best of three doubles series split at one apiece, Bernard-Feigenbaum, along with first-time doubles partner Mara Schmidt, secured the decisive point by defeating the Gopher tandem of Tereza Brichacova and Jessika Mozia, 8-5, in the No. 1 slot. It was the sixth time this season that Purdue jumped out to a 1-0 lead as the Boilermakers improved to 4-1 when they take doubles.
Bernard-Feigenbaum's match with Jessika Mozia proved to be the difference maker with the team score deadlocked at 3-3. The sophomore hailing from New York, N.Y., dropped her first set to the Gopher while playing at the No. 4 position, 7-5. She rallied back to defeat Mozia by the same score in the second set to force the third. She wasted no time getting after her opponent, racing out and getting a 6-1 win to clinch the match for Purdue.
The Purdue duo of Claudia Escribens and Nicole Robinson provided an early edge with an 8-3 decision over Aria Lambert and Paula Rincon Otero playing in the No. 3 doubles slot. Minnesota evened the best of three doubles competition with Julia Courter and Natalia Pintusava's victory at No. 2 over Daniela Vidal and Natalia Davila, 8-3.
Minnesota tied the score at 1-1 with a straight-set victory at the No. 5 singles position with Lambert dealing Purdue freshman Andjela Djokovic a 6-1, 6-1 setback. Making her singles debut this season, Escribens gave the lead back to the Boilermakers as the sophomore scored a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Rincon Otero at No. 6.
The back and forth battle waged on at No. 4 with the Gophers coming out on top as Courter defeated Robinson, 6-1, 6-2. They strung together consecutive wins to take their first lead of the match courtesy of Brichacova, who posted a 6-2, 6-2 win against Vidal of Purdue in the No. 1 slot.
Schmidt brought her three-match losing streak to a halt at an important moment as her 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 2 over Pintusava brought the dual to a tie at 3-3 to set the stage for Bernard-Feigenbaum.
Purdue will continue on the road, traveling to Madison, Wis., for a contest against Wisconsin (7-4, 2-1 Big Ten) at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
No. 46 Purdue 4, No. 63 Minnesota 3 | Box Score
Doubles
1: Mara Schmidt/Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (Purdue) def. Tereza Brichacova/Jessika Mozia (Minnesota), 8-5
2: Julia Courter/Natalia Pintusava (Minnesota) def. Daniela Vidal/Natalia Davila (Purdue), 8-3
3: Nicole Robinson/Claudia Escribens (Purdue) def. Aria Lambert/Paula Rincon Otero (Minnesota), 8-3
Singles
1: Tereza Brichacova (Minnesota) def. Daniela Vidal (Purdue), 6-2, 6-2
2: Mara Schmidt (Purdue) def. Natallia Pintusava (Minnesota), 6-0, 6-2
3: Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (Purdue) def. Jessika Mozia (Minnesota), 5-7, 7-5, 6-1
4: Julia Courter (Minnesota) def. Nicole Robinson (Purdue), 6-1, 6-2
5: Aria Lambert (Minnesota) def. Andjela Djokovic (Purdue), 6-1, 6-1
6: Claudia Escribens (Purdue) def. Paula Rincon Otero (Minnesota), 6-2, 6-3