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Purdue tennis teams prepare to take on Indiana

Jason Gulley/Exponent Photographer

ZING IT: Sophomore Melissa Woods prepares a forehand against Notre Dame March 21. Both men's and women's tennis are preparing for matches with Indiana this week.

By Andrew Hershberger
Assistant Sports Editor

Neither snow nor sleet will keep the Purdue tennis teams from facing rival Indiana this weekend.

The women will play Indiana at 10 a.m. Saturday in Bloomington. The men will try to improve their Big Ten record to 2-1 against the Hoosiers at 1 p.m. today at the Lafayette Sports Center.

The nationally 41st-ranked Indiana women are 12-5 this season after beating North Carolina State last weekend. Previous to that win, the Hoosiers had lost four of their last five matches. No. 40 Purdue is 5-7 (2-1 Big Ten) on the season after defeating No. 22 Notre Dame 5-2 March 21. Purdue hasn't beaten the Hoosiers since 1998, but assistant coach Chris Karges-Iandolo said the time is right for her team.

"We're playing with a lot of confidence since beating Notre Dame and we want to build on that going into our next seven Big Ten matches," she said. "Our depth is our strength. A win at No. 1 counts the same as one at No. 6 in college. We can go out there and practice and compete hard. We have players challenging each other up and down the lineup, which ultimately makes us better."

Indeed, Nos. 4, 5 and 6 singles are occupied by skilled freshmen who have scored critical wins in close matches this season. Lara Burgarello has filled the No. 4 singles spot as well as a position at No. 3 doubles. Shawna Zuccarini and Amy Walgenbach at five and six were the most recent heroines for the team, scoring the winning points against Notre Dame. Zuccarini leads the freshman with a 14-15 singles record.

Karges-Iandolo also cites doubles as a point of attack for the Boilermakers.

"Indiana plays very good doubles." Karges-Iandolo said. "They have a kind of unconventional style, but I think if we can jump on them early and get the doubles point, that is key for us. I think we're up for the challenge."

The No. 3 doubles team of Burgarello and Melissa Iqbal has played excellently as of late, picking up wins in several matches, although they lost their match at Notre Dame 8-1. The No. 2 doubles team of Melissa Woods and Lynsey Fick has also played well, posting an 11-12 record so far this season, eclipsing the nine wins Fick had in doubles last season.

The keys for the men (6-7, 1-1 Big Ten) are much the same. They are on a two-match winning streak, having beaten Iowa Saturday and No. 32 Indiana State Sunday. Coach Tim Madden considers doubles to be a strong point, but he thinks that the team must operate well at all positions, one through three doubles and one through six singles.

"They play with a lot of energy," Madden said. "It’s a little uncertain now for us, two of their top guys were out with injury against Iowa, and I don’t know what their lineup will be against us. In the past, we've had a consistently high competition level in doubles, but we have been inconsistent through six singles matches. It's important to me that we have all our positions in high competition. I think that’s really important if we want to build on our successes."

Scott Mayer at No. 1 singles and Troy Havens at No. 5 singles have been the most consistent of late, winning both matches this weekend.

The men also have a match with the No. 2 team in the nation, Illinois, Saturday. The match takes place at noon in Champaign, Ill. Madden said that his team will have to take the match as an opportunity to compete with the best.

"It will be fun to play Illinois at their house; there's no other way to look at it. It's a stretch to think we can take a win from the No. 2 team in the country, but that's the great thing about collegiate competition: you can just go out and try to have fun."


03/28/2002	Previous Edition 3/27