Jan. 22, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's tennis team opened the dual-match portion of its schedule Friday with a 7-0 win over Eastern Michigan on the Basham Courts inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
"I thought this was a great effort from the entire team," head coach Laura Glitz said. "Eastern Michigan is a solid team, and for us to sweep them is a very good accomplishment. It is a good start to the season, but we need to build on this win and keep getting better."
Purdue (1-0) opened the match by sweeping the doubles point. Sophomores Remi Martin and Anna Dushkina gave the Boilermakers an early advantage by defeating Karina Ahuja and Georgia de'Lisle-Tarr 8-3 at No. 2. Senior Michelle Sammons and sophomore Jennifer Rabot clinched the point with an 8-5 defeat of Julia Breuss and Miriam Westerink at No. 1. The sweep was completed at No. 3 when junior Bhavani Tirumurti and freshman Imogen Golder beat Xu Chang and Celine Donnet 8-3.
The Boilermakers continued dominating as the match moved into singles play. Rabot made quick work of Chang at the No. 2 position, beating her 6-2, 6-1. Dushkina brought the team within one point of victory when she defeated Ahuja 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4. Golder clinched the win and moved to 4-0 in singles as a collegian by taking down de'Lisle-Tarr 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5.
Sophomore Kay Kay Magi extended the margin with her 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Donnet at No. 6. Sammons quickly followed with a victory over her own at No.1 as she beat Bruess 7-6 (5), 6-1. The match reached its final score when Tirumurti won the only match to go three sets. She battled back to claim a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 1-0 (6) victory over Westerink at No. 3 to win her first singles dual match as a Boilermaker.
"I think we definitely deserve the win," Sammons said. "We are a great team with great chemistry. We've been working solidly ever since the (ITA) Regional (in October), when we didn't play particularly well. I think that tournament really lit a fire under us, and we all went and worked over the break. Since we came back together, everyone has given 100 percent, and so I think that's the reason we were able to win 7-0."
Purdue defeated an opponent without dropping a decision for the first time since Feb. 1, 2009, when the team beat Toledo 7-0. Eastern Michigan drops to 1-1 this season with the loss.
Purdue returns to action Sunday when it hosts Toledo at 10 a.m. ET. Admission is free, and live results can be found at purduesports.com.