SCHEDULE
Friday, March 6 | 6 p.m. ET | West Lafayette
#22 USC at Purdue
Sunday, March 8 | 11 a.m. ET | West Lafayette
#26 UCLA at Purdue
BOILERMAKER NOTABLES (3/5)
- Sophomore Nour Fathalla leads the team in singles wins for the year with 12 total, while sophomore Maj Premzl leads in doubles with 17 wins.
- In the final non-conference showing of the season, the Purdue Boilermakers picked up a big win versus the Redbirds of Illinois State, 4-0, to advance their overall spring record to 4-5.
- Purdue started the duel off strong in doubles play with junior Henrik Villanger and Fathalla fiercely beating Adrian Dibildox and Christian Capacci of Illinois State, 6-1.
- The doubles point was secured by second-time pairing freshmen Jacob Lee and Nikola Jovic, 7-5. The duo defeated Finn Logue and Jett Leong of Illinois State. This improves their pairing record to an undefeated 2-0, beating Toledo in similar fashion, 7-6.
- The winning streak continued into singles play, with Purdue winning set one against Illinois State on all six courts. Lee continued his strong start of his collegiate career, finishing first at the number five position by beating Caden Scarlett 6-1,6-4. His record now improves to 3-1 for the season.
- In the number four singles position, Jovic decisively beat Jeff Leong 6–1, 6-2. Soon after, senior Mujtaba Ali-Khan took the victory at the number six singles position versus Finn Logue, 6-1, 6-2. This is Ali-Khan’s first win of the year, clinching the match for a Boilermaker win.
LOOKING AHEAD
- With the Big Ten season-opener set to begin across the league, for the second straight weekend, Purdue (4-5) stays home starting with No. 22 USC on Friday, March 6, and finishing with No. 26 UCLA on Sunday, March 8. This will be the second-ever meeting between Purdue and USC.
- No. 22 USC comes into the duel with a 7-3 record, with zero Big Ten play yet. The Trojans are 2-2 in away duels, as well as a win streak of three. In last year’s showing versus No. 22 USC, then-freshman Fathalla picked up the first Big Ten win of his career at the number six singles position versus Niels Hoffmann 6-4, 6-3, 1-0 (5).
- Similarly, No. 26 UCLA comes into their matchup with an overall record of 6-3, including 3-2 away. Last year, although the match resulted in a loss for then-freshman Premzl, he nearly pushed it to a third set after a late lead versus Gianluca Ballotta at the number five singles position, 6-2, 7-6 (4).