University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Purdue
Gophers Season Comes to a Close
4/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The University of Minnesota Gophers finished its season in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament falling to the Purdue University Boilermaker 4-1 this afternoon.
"I thought it was key that we got the doubles point, but I think we had a little bit of a slow start in singles. We battled back and in the end it was a good match but just not enough," head coach Geoff Young said. "I give them (Purdue) credit, they did well. They are a good team."
The match was a rematch from last weekend when the Boilermakers defeated Minnesota 4-2 to end the regular season. Purdue quickly took the first win of today's match, sweeping Ruben Weber and Marino Alpeza 6-0 at No. 2 doubles. The pair finishes 8-15 on the season.
The Gophers clawed back to take the doubles point. Justyn Levin and Jeremy Lynn tied up the race for the doubles point at No. 3 doubles, winning 6-4. The pair only played six matches together this season, and was 3-3.
The point came down to No. 1 doubles, with Matic Spec and Felix Corwin winning for the Gophers 6-3. The No. 30 ranked pair is 11-3 on the season.
In singles play, Purdue took all of the first sets except for Weber's at No. 2.
The Boilermakers tied up the match 1-1 with No. 48 Gergely Madarasz defeating Spec 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot. Spec finishes 15-13 on the season, playing at the No. 1 spot for all but one match. Earlier today he was named First Team All-Big Ten.
Alpeza dropped his match at No. 4, 6-1, 6-3. He was 12-18 on the season, seeing action at the 3, 4, 5 and 6 spots.
Three of the four matches left went into three sets as Purdue was up 2-1.
Lynn lost his match at No. 5 in a close battle, 7-5, 7-6 (1).
Purdue sealed the victory, taking the match at the No. 3 spot 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 with Corwin taking the loss. Corwin was 11-13 this season, seeing action at all spots except No. 6.
Weber and Krstanovic were both in tight thirs sets when their matches went unfinished. Weber was 17-12 on the season, and Krstanovic was 5-12 in his first season joining the team in January.
"I think that we are a good team. We get along well, we work hard in practice and we are getting better. It is just not where we need to be at," Young said. "But we are very young and next year we are a year older. Hopefully this experience will let us perform at a higher level on a more consistent basis and I have no doubt that it will."
Big Ten Tournament play will continue at the Baseline Tennis Center throughout the weekend with four more matches set for tomorrow.
No. 53 Purdue 4, Minnesota 1
Singles competition
1. #48 Gergely Madarasz (PUR) def. Matic Spec (MINN) 6-4, 6-2
2. #97 Benjamin Ugarte (PUR) vs. Ruben Weber (MINN) 4-6, 6-4, 3-1, unfinished
3. Ricky Medinilla (PUR) def. Felix Corwin (MINN) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
4. Mateus Silva (PUR) def. Marino Alpeza (MINN) 6-1, 6-3
5. Dominik Sochurek (PUR) def. Jeremy Lynn (MINN) 7-5, 7-6 (1)
6. Renan Hanayama (PUR) def. Josip Krstanovic (MINN) 6-4, 3-6, 4-3, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #30 Felix Corwin/Matic Spec (MINN) def. Dominik Sochurek/Benjamin Ugarte (PUR) 6-3
2. Ricky Medinilla/Gergely Madarasz (PUR) vs. Marino Alpeza/Ruben Weber (MINN) 6-0
3. Josip Krstanovic/Jeremy Lynn (MINN) def. Mateus Silva/Renan Hanayama (PUR) 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,4,5,3)
