March 17, 2010
The 35th-ranked Purdue women's tennis team downed the University of New Orleans 7-0 on Wednesday afternoon at the University Tennis Center in New Orleans.
Purdue (11-1) swept all 10 contests, beginning with the three doubles matches. Senior Michelle Sammons and sophomore Jennifer Rabot improved to 10-1 as a duo this season by defeating Cassandra Escobar and Kozue Matsumoto 8-5 at No. 1, while sophomore Anna Dushkina and freshman Gisella Pere earned an 8-3 victory over Ceara Howey and Amber Garza at No. 2. Junior Bhavani Tirumurti and freshman Imogen Golder beat Kristina Martic and Sofija Karalic 8-5 at No. 3 to complete the fourth sweep of doubles this season for the Boilermakers.
As the match moved to singles, Purdue's winning continued. Sammons grabbed her seventh dual-match singles win this season with her 6-1, 6-2 win over Escobar at No. 1. Pere was the only other Boilermaker to play a complete match, and she dispatched Karalic 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6. The other four matches were defaulted to Purdue by New Orleans (4-8). Golder was leading Garza 4-0 in the first set at No. 5 when Garza was forced to withdraw.
After the match was clinched, New Orleans halted the final three matches still on court. Rabot, the 94th-ranked singles player in the NCAA, held a 6-2, 5-0 lead over Matsumoto at No. 2 and improved to 12-0 in dual-match singles play this season. Tirumurti ran her dual-match singles record to 9-3 as she led 7-5, 2-1 at No. 3, and Dushkina, who was leading 6-4, 3-0 at No. 4, equaled that mark.Purdue earned a shutout for the fifth time this season and won all 10 matches for the fourth time. The Boilermakers return to action Thursday at Tulane.