April 25, 2014
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Purdue men's tennis team was unable to overcome Northwestern's fast start as the fourth-seeded Boilermakers were blanked by the fifth seed, 4-0, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament Friday. The 32nd-ranked Wildcats (21-9) advance into Saturday's semifinals, while No. 34 Purdue suffered its fourth consecutive loss and slipped to 15-7.
Rain and cool temperatures forced the match to be moved to the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. Northwestern snagged the doubles point from the Boilermakers with 8-5 matches at both the Nos. 2 and 3 positions. The scales first tilted the Wildcats way with Fedor Baev and Strong Kirchheimer's win over Purdue's Mateus Silva and Mark Kovacs in the No. 3 spot.
Moving into the No. 1 slot, Aaron Dujovne and Diego Acosta once again got the better of Northwestern's nationally ranked tandem of Mihir Kumar and Raleigh Smith. Dujovne and Acosta dealt the 28th-ranked pair an 8-4 loss to even the battle. It was the Boilermaker duo's third upset of a nationally ranked opponent and their second of Kumar and Smith this season.
Sam Shropshire and Alex Pasareanu avenged their ranked teammates' loss by upending Purdue's 73rd-ranked Szymon Tatarczyk and Ricky Medinilla at No. 2 to earn the point for the Wildcats. The senior/rookie Boilermaker team has dropped their last four matches, shifting their record to 8-5.
With only four courts available for each match inside, singles No. 3 and 6 only were to play if necessary. Northwestern's three points to secure its spot in the semifinals came by way of straight-set victories at Nos. 1, 2 and 4.
The Boilermakers will now wait until April 29 to see if they will receive one of 33 at-large bids available to join the 64-team field of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. The men's team bracket selection show will be streamed on NCAA.com at 5 p.m. ET.
No. 5 Northwestern 4, No. 4 Purdue 0 | Box Score
Doubles
1: Aaron Dujovne/Diego Acosta (Purdue) def. No. 28 Mihir Kumar and Raleigh Smith (Northwestern), 8-4
2: Sam Shropshire/Alex Pasareanu (Northwestern) def. No. 73 Szymon Tatarczyk/Ricky Medinilla (Purdue), 8-5
3: Fedor Baev/Strong Kirchheimer (Northwestern) def. Mateus Silva/Mark Kovacs (Purdue), 8-5
Singles
1: No. 46 Raleigh Smith (Northwestern) def. Szymon Tatarczyk (Purdue), 6-2, 6-3
2: No. 120 Sam Shropshire (Northwestern) def. Ricky Medinilla (Purdue), 6-1, 7-5
3: Mark Kovacs (Purdue) vs. Konrad Zieba (Northwestern), 2-0 DNF
4: Mihir Kumar (Northwestern) def. Aaron Dujovne (Purdue), 6-2, 6-2
5: Diego Acosta (Purdue) vs. Strong Kirchheimer (Northwestern), 7-6 (7-5), DNF
6: Mateus Silva (Purdue) vs. Alex Pasareanu (Northwestern), DNP