March 24, 2013
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 21 Purdue women's tennis team turned it a dominant performance against the No. 37 Penn State Nittany Lions on Sunday. The Boilermakers were victorious, 7-0, on the Basham Courts at the Schwartz Tennis Center.
Imogen Golder clinched the victory for Purdue (11-1, 3-0 B1G) with a victory at No. 5. Golder knocked off Marie Bedard, 7-5, 6-1. The senior battled back and forth in the first set after dropping the first two games. From there, she tied it at two before hanging on for the first set win. Golder used that momentum and a strong forehand to control the second set against Bedard.
The Boilermakers started the match by taking the doubles point. Purdue's No. 3 tandem of Gisella Pere and Golder dropped the first two games against Bedard and Katherine Whiteaway. From there, the seniors took eight of the final nine games to win the match, 8-3. The No. 38 duo in the country consisting of Krisztina Kapitany and Mara Schmidt had a tall task as it was faced with the No. 57 pair of Petra Januskova and Chelsea Utting. The Purdue pair played one of its best matches of the season as the Boilermakers won, 8-3 to clinch the point.
Purdue then swept singles for the first time this season. Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum improved to 10-0 in her dual match singles career. She brought the score to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 lead at No. 4 over Carmen Sandor. Daniela Vidal was overpowering at No. 3. The sophomore dominated Devan McCluskey, 6-0, 6-2, to bring the Boilermakers within a point of victory.
After Golder clinched the match, Pere gave Purdue a 5-0 advantage with a win at No. 6. Pere dominated the first set over Sarah Henderson as she won, 6-1. At that point, Pere had won 18 of 19 games player during the weekend. However, Henderson bounced back in the second set and took it 6-3 to force a third. There, Pere regained her form and won, 6-1.
Lynda Xepoleas had the biggest win of her season at No. 1 singles. The sophomore took down the No. 41 singles player in the country, Januskova. Xepoleas dropped the first set, 6-3, before responding in the second with a statement-making 6-1 win. In the third, it was all Xepoleas again as she won, 6-2. Schmidt completed the sweep with a win at No. 2. The sophomore hung on in the first set, 7-5, over Utting. Schmidt couldn't quite close out in the second as Utting won in a tiebreak, 7-6 (4), to force a third-set tiebreaker. There, Schmidt won, 10-3.
Purdue has now won 10-straight matches after its first 7-0 win of the season.
The Boilermakers return to action next week as they head to the Mitten for a pair of conference matches. The Old Gold and Black will take on No. 9 Michigan on Saturday before traveling to East Lansing to take on Michigan State on Sunday.