Purdue needs tourney success to get in NCAAs

By Doug Healey
Staff Writer

The Purdue men's tennis team will put its streak of four consecutive NCAA tournament bids on the line at the Big Ten championships.

"This tournament is going to answer a lot of questions for the committee deciding who the teams are that go to the NCAAs," said Purdue coach Tim Madden. "We fully expect to go, and if we have a successful tournament, there's no question that we should be considered."

The No. 52 Boilers (13-8, 5-5 Big Ten), seeded sixth in the tournament, play 11th-seeded Penn State (12-12, 0-10) in the first round today in Madison, Wisc. The Boilers have already beaten the Nittany Lions this year, a 6-1 win at the Purdue Varsity Tennis Courts on April 14.

Although the Boilers are seeded sixth, the draw is in their favor. If Purdue beats Penn State, it will play third-seeded Northwestern (12-8, 6-4) on Friday, a team the Boilers beat 4-3 this season.

"I am not sure we deserve this draw," said Madden. "With wins over our first two potential opponents, the goal for a Big Ten championship is realistic."

Madden said he is looking forward to the battle.

"We need to go into the tournament and enjoy the fight," he said. "It's time to play. We need to go after the win and play with nothing to lose. If we do that, the NCAAs will take care of itself."

The Boilers are optimistic because of how well they played against the top teams in the Big Ten.

"Anything can happen in this tournament," said Madden. "Most of our conference losses have come down to a game or a couple of points. All that matters is who is ready to play in the tournament. No seed is safe."

Playing to win will be the most important for the tournament.

"We have stumbled when we get ourselves in a situation when we have fought hard; the match is ours to close out against a competitive team, and we change and start playing safe," said Madden. "We have lost too many matches because of that."

The winner of the Big Ten championships receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. No. 1 seed Illinois, ranked No. 9 in the country, won its fifth-straight outright regular season title after going 10-0 in the conference for the fifth straight year. They have won a record 54 consecutive Big Ten dual matches.

No. 27 Ohio State is seeded No. 2 in the tournament, following an 8-2 conference record. The Boilermakers lost to the Buckeyes 5-2 on April 13.

Madden will travel to Madison once again, where he played tennis collegiately. The Boilers have already lost once to the Badgers (12-9, 5-5) on the road this year, 4-3 on April 8.

Madden would like to get revenge against the teams that beat the Boilers this season.

"There are a few teams we would like to get again," said Madden. "Wisconsin has a chance to meet us in the semi-finals and I would love that. It gets the juices flowing every time I go there, so hopefully some of that energy and adrenaline will be in our guys."

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