UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An early doubles point and five singles wins lifted Penn State men's tennis (2-3, 2-3 B1G) to its second consecutive conference win and a 6-1 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers (1-5, 1-5 B1G) Sunday afternoon in the Indoor Tennis Center. The Nittany Lions improved to 2-0 at home and recorded their third straight win against the Boilermakers.
"Everybody had to step up today," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "Sam Bossem got to play today and it was great to see him get his first college win. It was great to get our first doubles point. We really needed that and came out with great energy. All of the guys are pulling for each other, which helps a lot. Now, we go back into our road warrior mode with two tough road matches against Michigan and Michigan State next weekend."
"Coming off a nice win against Indiana helped our momentum going into Purdue," associate head coach Paul Tobin said. "The guys did a great job staying aggressive in doubles and that gave us some breathing room in singles."
DOUBLES
Penn State shuffled its doubles lineup and jumped to an early 1-0 lead with its first doubles victory of the year.
For the first time this season, the pair of Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) and Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) played together, dominating on court two 6-1.
At the No. 3 spot, the freshmen duo of Miko Eala (Philippines/Manacor, Spain) and Sam Bossem (Wimborne Minster, United Kingdom) secured their first doubles victory, 6-4, over Sebastian Welch and Mateo Juilo to clinch the first point for the Nittany Lions.
Partners Tim Ruetzel (Munich, Germany) and Charl Morgan (Johannesburg, South Africa) tied Milledge Cossu and Michal Wozaniak with a score of 4-4 in an unfinished match.
SINGLES
Purdue's Mateo Julio defeated Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-3, 6-2 to even the score at 1-1.
Sophomore Charl Morgan picked up his first singles win of the season as he swept Milledge Cossu in straight sets 6-2, 7(5)-6 to give the Nittany Lions a 2-1 edge.
The Nittany Lions raced to a 3-1 lead as Bora Sengul recorded his first singles victory of his career at the No. 2 spot with an impressive performance over Sebastian Welch 7(6)-6, 6-2.
Improving to 4-1 in singles play, Miko Eala continued his hot hand against Michal Wozniak 7-5, 7-6(5) to secure Penn State's second conference win.
The teams played out the remaining two matches. After clinching the match for the Nittany Lions in a 4-3 thriller over Indiana, Tim Ruetzel earned his second straight singles win as he defeated Tomasz Dudek 6-3, 6-3.
At the No. 6 spot, Sam Bossem notched his first collegiate singles win over Santiago Galan in three competitive sets 4-6, 7-5, 10-7.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions hit the road for four consecutive matches, starting with a matchup against the 13th-ranked Wolverines on Saturday, March 13 and Michigan State on Sunday, March 14 at noon.
RESULTS
Penn State 6, Purdue 1
Doubles results:
1. Tim Ruetzel/Charl Morgan (PSU) VS. Milledge Cossu/Michal Wozniak (PUR) 4-4, unfinished
2. Christos Antonopoulos/Alp Sentay (PSU) def. Sebastian Welch/Mateo Julio (PUR) 6-1
3. Miko Eala/Sam Bossem (PSU) def. Tomasz Dudek/Andre Suzanne (PUR) 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3
Singles results:
1. Mateo Julio (PUR) def. Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-3, 6-2
2. Bora Sengul (PSU) def. Sebastian Welch (PUR) 7-6(6), 6-2.
3. Miko Eala (PSU) def. Michal Wozniak (PUR) 7-5, 7-6(2)
4. Charl Morgan (PSU) def. Milledge Cossu (PUR) 6-2, 7-6(5)
5. Tim Ruetzel (PSU) def. Tomasz Dudek (PUR) 6-3, 6-3
6. Sam Bossem (PSU) def. Santiago Galan (PUR) 4-6, 7-5, 10-7
Order of finish: 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State men's tennis team during the season. Follow the team on Twitter @pennstateMTEN, Instagram @pennstatemtennis and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstatemenstennis.