March 4, 2011
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Purdue men's tennis team dropped a close match, 4-1, against No. 54 Texas A&M Corpus Christi, its second ranked opponent of the day, at the HEB Tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas.
"We had good momentum from the morning match," head coach Pawel Gajdzik said. "(No. 46) New Mexico was the highest ranked team that we have beaten here in years. With our young team we couldn't keep the momentum we had built from the morning. We fought hard all day long. It was a disappointing outcome, but with a few balls going our way, we could have had the result and score reversed with us coming out on top. We were close, but that's not what we wanted. Tomorrow is another great opportunity when we play Maryland, another ranked team."
Texas A&M Corpus Christi (8-5) jumped out to an early lead with a 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1. Mark Kovacs quickly tied up the team score with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 3. The Islanders stopped any Boilermaker momentum with close wins in the remaining three matches.
Aaron Dujovne was next to finish for Purdue (7-4). The Santiago, Chile, native dropped a 7-5, 7-6 (4) decision at No. 5. Szymon Tatarczyk battled an up-and-down match at No. 2 before dropping a three set thriller. The freshman lost the first set by a 6-0 margin. However, he picked his game up in the second set en route to a 6-0 victory in the frame. The third set needed an extra game for the decision, but saw Tatarczyk fall 7-5 in the deciding set. The Islanders clinched the match at No. 6 with a 7-5, 6-4 victory.
The loss drops the Boilermakers record against ranked opponents to 2-3 on the season.
Purdue will return to the courts Saturday morning to face No. 45 Maryland in the third-place match. Action is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET from the HEB Tennis Center.