Virginia Tech Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's tennis team hoped that the comforts of playing at home would help it refocus after losing its first match against Dartmouth a week ago. However, the strength of Virginia Tech's lineup overpowered any advantage the Boilermakers had playing inside the Schwartz Tennis Center.
On Saturday, the two teams met at the net at noon ET to begin doubles play. The Boilermakers entered with a six-match streak of securing the doubles point, but were about to compete against their first ranked pairing in Virginia Tech's Elena Cerezo-Codina and Caroline Daxhelet.
Rafaella Baquerizo and Nicole Robinson faced the No. 59 duo on court one. The Hokies jumped to a fast 4-1 start and then held serve to move the match to 5-1. Staring at match point, Baquerizo and Robinson battled back from 40-15 with an ace and two powerful volleys, advancing the score to 5-2. The Boilermakers, however, were unable to carry the momentum forward, surrendering the match at 6-2.
On court two, Natalia Davila and Andjela Djokovic also faced match point at 5-4 (40-15) against Katherine Butler and Francesca Fusinato. With Davila serving, the senior mistakenly double faulted, giving the match and doubles point to Virginia Tech. Purdue's streak ended at six.
In singles, the Boilermakers forced four of their first sets to a tiebreak or seventh game; although, Djokovic was the only player to take a lead. Baquerizo, Marta Ruedas and Deborah Suarez all lost along with Robinson, who was outplayed by Fusinato 6-1 in the first.
Robinson went on to lose her match first on court one, 6-1, 6-2, giving the Hokies a 2-0 lead. Ruedas was also unable to overcome her first set deficit, losing 7-6, 4-6 to Sansitha Nandakumar on court five.
The attention then shifted to Baquerizo, playing on court four, who entered the day unbeaten in singles this spring. That streak would also end, though, as she too could not battle back after dropping the first set early. Natalie Novotna ultimately clinched the win for Virginia Tech with her 7-6, 6-4 performance.
Purdue went on to lose its remaining three singles matches, the team's first shutout since April 29, 2016, to No. 11 Michigan.
The Boilermakers return home Feb. 12 to face DePaul. The team's home match against Ole Miss was canceled due to the Rebels' invitation the 2017 ITA Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championship.