WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A challenging road slate and 10 home matches highlight the 2022 spring campaign for the Purdue men's tennis team, as the program released its dual schedule Thursday.
Head coach Pawel Gajdzik returns for his 13th season in West Lafayette with a promising and talented roster. Athell Bennett, the ITA Most Improved Senior from 2020 and the second-highest ranked player in program history, is back for his final campaign with the Boilermakers. Purdue returns six letterwinners from previous seasons.
The touted freshman class that finished just outside of the Tennis Recruiting Network's Top 25 has already made an impact this fall. Gabriele Brancatelli and Rohan Sachdev led the way for the Boilermakers with 14 combined wins through the fall campaign in singles. Fellow rookies Julen Morgan and Piotr Galus also chipped in an addition eight singles victories in their first fall slate of tournaments.
All matches at the Schwartz Tennis Center are free to attend. Live stats for home matches will be provided at PurdueStats.com, and indoor matches at the Schwartz Tennis Center will streamed on Playsight.com.
Purdue's 2022 spring schedule will feature 10 squads ranked in the final ITA poll from last season – Illinois (17), Ohio State (21), Oklahoma (28), Wichita State (37), LSU (42), SMU (45), Tulsa (46) Michigan (49), Louisville (51) and Northwestern (52).
Eight teams on the schedule reached the NCAA Tournament last year, including Sweet 16 programs Illinois and Ohio State.
The Boilermakers will face a tough test right from the start with four straight road matches against top-tie programs. Purdue will start the year at SMU on Jan. 15, before facing Oklahoma two days later in Norman. Purdue will then take on Tulsa and Wichita State away from home on Jan. 22 and 23, respectively.
Purdue will make its home debut Jan. 30 with a doubleheader against Chicago State and IUPUI. Another doubleheader is scheduled for Feb. 5 against DePaul and Saint Louis.
Gajdzik will lead the Boilermakers to Baton Rouge, La., for two matches against Nicholls and LSU on Feb. 12 and 13, respectively, before a road trip to Louisville on Feb. 20.
The home non-conference slate will wrap up with the final doubleheader of the year against Eastern Illinois and Bellarmine on Feb. 26.
Purdue will then head out west to face California on March 16, with potential additional matches to be announced later.
The Governor's Cup rivalry with Indiana heats back up for the Big Ten opener March 26 in Bloomington.
Purdue will return to Schwartz Tennis Center for back-to-back Big Ten contests against Penn State and Ohio State on April 1 and 3, respectively.
The Boilermakers other road trips in the Big Ten are at Michigan (April 9), Michigan State (April 10), Northwestern (April 23) and Illinois (April 24), the latter being the regular-season finale.
Purdue's final home matches will be April 16 against Nebraska and April 16 against Wisconsin.
The 2022 Big Ten Tournament will be held April 28-May 1 at Wisconsin.