April 21, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team (10-15, 0-8) will return home for the final time this weekend, hosting a series against No. 63 Purdue Friday, April 22 at 3 p.m. and No. 24 Indiana Sunday, April 24 at noon.
Last Sunday, the Nittany Lions fell to the No. 73 Wisconsin Badgers for their eighth consecutive Big Ten loss, falling 6-1. Senior Eddie Bourchier and freshman Russell Bader earned an impressive victory, 7-3, in first doubles match. The Nittany Lions could not secure another doubles victory and fell behind the Badgers, 1-0. Bader was the lone bright spot during singles play, recording a victory (6-2, 6-2) over Petr Satral in third singles for the Nittany Lion's only point of the afternoon.
Bader enters the weekend pacing the Nittany Lions with 22 singles victories in 2010-11, including a 17-5 record in dual matches. The freshman has posted an 8-2 record in his previous 10 singles matches while moving up to the third position. Bader also boasts a 15-10 doubles record this spring.
Bourchier enters his final home series as a Nittany Lion leading the team in doubles play. The senior has posted a 22-10 record in 2010-11 season, as well as a 16-9 record this spring. Since pairing with Bader, Bourchier has gone 12-7 with a 1-0 record against nationally ranked opponents, which is good enough to earn the duo the No. 73 ranking in the April 19 ITA doubles rankings.
Led by head coach Pawel Gajdzik, the Boilermakers enter the 26th all-time matchup against Penn State. The Nittany Lions have a slight edge in the previous 25 matchups, leading the series, 13-12. Purdue has struggled to a 2-6 record thus far in Big Ten play, but is coming off of a win over No. 72 Northwestern last weekend. The Boilermakers are led in singles play by freshman Szymon Tatarczyk. Purdue is strong in doubles play as well with the No. 1 doubles tandem of sophomore Krisztian Krocsko and senior Eric Ramos leading the way.
Sunday afternoon, the Nittany Lions welcome the No. 24 Indiana Hoosiers to Happy Valley. Led by head coach Randy Bloemendaal, the Hoosiers share the top of the Big Ten standing with No. 4 Ohio State, posting an 8-0 mark this season. The ITA No. 63 doubles squad of Santiago Gruter and Jeremy Langer paces Indiana. They also boast the ITA No. 87 duo, comprised of Stephen Vogl and Josh MacTaggart. Langer also leads Indiana in the first singles position posting a 14-11-spring record.
Penn State will head back to Madison, Wis. next Thursday, April 28, to kick off the Big Ten Tournament. The Nittany Lions will look to spark some Cinderella-like magic after a slow Big Ten season in their first round match. Details about the first round match will be available after the regular season concludes Sunday afternoon.