April 18, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team battled one of the nation's best on Wednesday at the Schwartz Tennis Center. The Boilermakers fell to No. 3 Ohio State, 7-0.
Purdue (10-13, 2-7 Big Ten) hung tough at the start of doubles, but couldn't quite win a match. The Buckeyes won at No. 2, 8-5 over Szymon Tatarczyk and Krisztian Krocsko. Diego Acosta and Aaron Dujovne, ranked for the first time in their careers at No. 73, didn't get to ease into the rankings. They were faced with the nation's No. 1 duo of Chase Buchanon and Blaz Rola. The Buckeye pair won at No. 1, 8-4. Ohio State completed the sweep with an 8-5 win at No. 3.
Ohio State (28-2, 9-0 Big Ten) then showed why it has six ranked singles players. No 12. Buchanan knocked off Acosta at No. 2, 6-0, 6-1, to make the score 2-0. No. 83 Devin McCarthy was next as he topped Krocsko at No. 4, 6-3, 6-2. No. 67 Peter Kobelt clinched the match with a win at No. 3 over Tatarczyk, 6-1, 6-3.
Mark Kovacs put up an excellent fight against the No. 6 singles player in the country. After dropping the first set, 6-3, he battled to a tiebreak in the second set. With the tiebreak score 5-5, Kovacs had back to back shots that missed the line by mere inches that ended the match. Hunter Callahan then beat Evan Hawkins, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 6 and the No. 101 singles player, Connor Smith, beat Dujovne at No. 5, 6-1, 6-4.
Ohio State now leads the series 67-18-2.
The Boilermakers will be back in action this weekend with a pair of Big Ten matches. On Friday, the Boilermakers will host No. 44 Northwestern on Friday. Sunday, Purdue will travel to No. 20 Illinois.