April 2, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team fell 7-0 to No. 28 Ohio State at the Lafayette Sports Center on Saturday. The 71st-ranked Boilermakers saw their overall record drop to 3-10 and their Big Ten mark drop to 0-4 with the loss. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, improved to 11-5 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten with the victory.
Despite the defeat, Purdue head coach Tim Madden noticed improvement in his Boilermakers.
"The score looks lopsided, but we had a consistent, competitive effort," Madden said. "I was very pleased to see us compete much better than we have recently."
Madden singled out sophomore Eric Hodgman, who stepped into the doubles lineup in place of ailing junior Paul Rose. In his first doubles outing of the spring, Hodgman teamed with senior David Robinson to post an 8-5 win over Chris Klingemann and Dennis Mertens at No. 2, good for Purdue's lone victory of the afternoon.
"Eric Hodgman played some of the best doubles of anyone on our team this year," Madden said. "I am encouraged that he made a breakthrough."
At No. 1 doubles, the senior team of Sounak Chatterjee and Filip Koziell nearly pulled off a monumental upset before falling 9-8 (5) to the nation's top-ranked team of Ross Wilson and Scott Green.
Ohio State cruised through singles, winning five of the six matches in straight sets. Purdue sophomore Jarred Leibner extended his No. 4 match to a matchbreaker, but lost to Green 7-6, 6-7, 10-7 in the last contest to come off the court.
Purdue will return to Big Ten action next weekend, when it travels for matches at Michigan and Michigan State on April 9 and 10. The Boilermakers will be home again in two weeks to play host to Wisconsin and Northwestern.
#28 Ohio State 7, #71 Purdue 0
Singles
1. #46 Joey Atas (OS) def. Filip Koziell (P) 6-3, 6-2
2. Chris Klingemann (OS) def. David Robinson (P) 7-6, 6-1
3. #72 Devin Mullings (OS) def. Colin Foster (P) 6-3, 6-3
4. Scott Green (OS) def. Jarred Leibner (P) 7-6, 6-7, 10-7
5. Ross Wilson (OS) def. Scott Warner (P) 6-1, 6-2
6. Drew Eberly (OS) def. Matt Zollman (P) 6-2, 6-2 *
Doubles
1. #1 Wilson/Green (OS) def. Chatterjee/Koziell (P) 9-8
2. Robinson/Hodgman (P) def. Klingemann/Dennis Mertens (OS) 8-5
3. Atas/Eberly (OS) def. Foster/ Warner (P) 8-6
Order of singles finish: 5, 1, 6, 2, 3, 4
Order of doubles finish: 2, 3, 1
* Denotes match-clinching win.
Purdue: 3-10 (0-4 Big Ten)
Ohio State: 11-5 (3-0 Big Ten)
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