WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Men's Tennis team will open the 2023-24 season at home this Monday, Jan. 15 against Dayton.
In his second season leading the Boilermakers, head coach Geoff Young looks to build a foundation with a slough of young faces. The Boilers return just two of last year's seven players, with five freshmen and a pair of transfers joining the squad.
Transfers Marino Jakic and Aleksa Krivokapic join the Boilermakers after stints with DePaul where they both claimed the honor of Big East Freshman of the Year (Jakic in 2022, Krivokapic in 2023) and departed with winning records in the top two singles positions.
Purdue's freshman class comprises five players who could make an immediate impact. Stefan Simeunovic, Juan David Velasquez, Henrik Villanger, and Soham Purohit all notched five or more singles wins in the fall campaign. Simeunovic owned a team-best 7-3 record during the fall season with six wins in straight sets.
Dayton enters the match having lost its opener on the road Saturday against Indiana. Kyle McNally and Mikkel Zinder recorded both of Dayton's points as the Hoosiers won 5-2.
The Flyers come to West Lafayette with two players ranked in the Nov. 15 ITA Preseason Rankings, No. 81 Connor Bruce and No. 113 Luis Saraiva. Bruce's No. 81 ranking is the highest for Dayton since the 2018-19 season (No. 77 Jordan Benjamin). Saraiva is just the fourth Flyer to nab an ITA Preseason Ranking after his 5-2 fall season in which he advanced to the Ohio Valley Regional's Round of 32.
The season opener against Dayton will be the fourth meeting all-time between the two programs. The Boilermakers currently own a 2-1 record against the Flyers after last year's 2-5 loss at home. Before that, Purdue had only surrendered one point in its two victories.
MATCH INFORMATION
Purdue (0-0) vs Dayton (0-1)
Schwartz Tennis Center
Mon., Jan. 15 | Noon
MEET THE TEAM
Mujtaba Ali-Khan- As a freshman, he led the Big Ten in completed conference matches (9). He closed the fall season winning five of his last six matches.
Alexander Ekstrand- He was rated as a five-star recruit by Tennis Recruiting Network, and had a 23-3 record against three and four-star recruits at American Heritage.
Marino Jakic- He was ranked as the No. 1 player in Croatia before his collegiate career. He won the 2022 Big East Freshman of the Year and Championship Most Outstanding Player Award.
Aleksa Krivokapic- He won the 2023 Big East Freshman of the Year Award after sporting a winning record at No. 1, 2, and 4. Krivokapic held a 10-4 singles record and went a perfect 4-0 in conference play.
Daniel Labrador- In his first season with Purdue, Labrador played all but six matches at singles No. 1. He earned his first ranked win after defeating Indiana's No. 70 Patrick Fletchall/Ilya Tiraspolsky 6-3 with Tomasz Dudek.
Soham Purohit- In his first collegiate semester he reached the Round of 16 at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional. Before Purdue, he was ranked as the No. 1 player in the Pacific Northwest and No. 56 overall by Tennis Recruiting Network.
Stefan Simeunovic- In his first fall season, he owned a team-best 7-3 record. He was also a three-time Ontario Provincial Singles Champion before representing Team Ontario in the 2022 Canada games.
Juan David Velasquez- Before Purdue, he was rated as a five-star recruit by Tennis Recruiting Network and finished as the No. 42 overall player by Head.com. He also competed in seven different ITF World Tennis Tour Tournaments from 2021-23.
Henrik Villanger- In the fall, Villanger won six singles matches. Before Purdue he reached the quarterfinals of five ITF Junior events, four came in the main draw.
FOLLOW ALONG
For all the latest scores, stats and stories surrounding Purdue Men's Tennis, follow the team on Facebook (/PurdueMensTennis), Twitter (@PurdueMTennis) and Instagram (@PurdueMTennis).
