MADISON, Wis. - The Purdue women's tennis team earned its first Big Ten win of the season Sunday, defeating Wisconsin 5-2 at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. The conference victory ended the Boilermakers' 14-match slide against all opponents that began Jan. 29 at Dartmouth. The decision also extended Purdue's win streak against the Badgers to 14.
The Boilermakers opened the match with doubles wins on courts one and three. No. 49 Rafaella Baquerizo and Andjela Djokovic defeated Maria Avgerinos and Melissa Pick 6-1 on the first, while Natalia Davila and Alex Sabe secured the point on the third with a 7-5 win over Michelle Linden and Sydney Rider.
In singles, Purdue's three freshman clinched the match for the team with wins on courts two, three and six. Sabe bested Kelsey Grambeau 6-4, 7-5 on the second, and Caitlin Calkins joined her with a 6-2, 6-4 straight-set victory on the sixth. Baquerizo's court-three match went the distance, but the Boilermaker was able to recover from her second set slip, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 against Linden.
Seniors Djokovic and Deborah Suarez dropped their singles matches on courts one and four respectfully, while fellow upperclassman Davila padded Purdue's victory with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over Rider on court five.
The Boilermakers close out their season on the road Friday and Sunday; Purdue will first face Penn State at 4 p.m. then No. 4 Ohio State at noon, respectively. The Boilermakers will not appear in this year's conference tournament as the bracket only includes the top 10 seeds. Purdue currently sits at No. 13 with too few matches left to make up the gap.