April 25, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 25, 2018 - The No. 49 Penn State men's tennis team will take on Purdue Thursday at 3:00 p.m. ET in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Lions are the seventh overall seed, matching up against the 10-seeded Boilermakers. The tournament is taking place in Iowa City, Iowa, hosted by the University of Iowa.
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Jeff Zinn and associate head coach Paul Tobin, finished the regular season with a 15-11 overall record and a 5-6 mark in the Big Ten.
No. 49 Penn State gets a rematch against Purdue after winning 4-3 against them on the road in West Lafayette April 20. The Boilermakers are 11-16 overall and 2-9 in the Big Ten. This past weekend, Purdue fell to No. 3 Ohio State, 4-0, but dominated Chicago State, 7-0.
Purdue's Gergely Madarasz is ranked No. 102 in the ITA poll. The Boilermaker doubles pair of Madarasz and Athell Bennett sits at No. 75 in the ITA poll.
"We are all looking forward to meeting Purdue in the first round," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "We stack up well against them in singles, but just have to perform better in doubles. There are seven teams in the first round that are pretty equal and anybody can take the win on a given day. I think the fact that we are in a neutral site won't provide any home court advantage which we struggled with this season."
The winner of the Penn State/Purdue match will face No. 8 Illinois Friday at 3:00 p.m. ET. The Fighting Illini is the second seed in the tournament. Illinois finished second in the Big Ten after going 10-1 in conference play with their only loss coming from No. 3 Ohio State. The Buckeyes took the regular season Big Ten title after going undefeated in the conference.
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