April 28, 2005
CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS - While the weather had proved cooperative in the opening matches of the 2005 Big Ten Conference Men's Tennis Tournament here on Thursday (April 28), the afternoon match saw Mother Nature throw a curve at Penn State and Purdue.
The dual between the sixth seeded Nittany Lions and the 11th seeded Boilermakers began outside at the Atkins Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Illinois. Purdue fought hard to gain a 1-0 advantage in the match by winning two of the three doubles contests. Eric Hodgman and David Robinson prevailed at number one doubles over Mark Barry and Malcolm Scatliffe, 8-4. At number two doubles Filip Koziell and Sounak Chatterjee squeaked by Ryan Berger and Bradley Hunter 8-7 to lock up the doubles point for Purdue.
With the temperature dropping, wind howling and the radar showing rain at any moment, the decision was made to play the singles matches of the first round battle indoors.
The Boilermakers fought hard but it was Penn State that came out of the gates firing once the contest resumed. Mark Berry defeated Filip Koziell 6-3, 6-3 at number one singles while Malcolm Scatliffe claimed victory over Sounak Shatterjee at number two singles, 6-4, 6-4. Ryan Burger and Bradley Hunter closed out Penn State's sweep of the top four spots with wins over David Robinson at number three singles (6-3, 6-1) and Colin Foster in the fourth position (6-2, 6-0).
The win is Penn State's second over Purdue this season. Head coach Jan Bortner's squad defeated the Boilermakers 5-2 on March 25th. The Nittany Lions will take on the third seed, Michigan, in the quarterfinals on Friday (April 29) at 2:00 p.m. central time. The Wolverines and Nittany Lions played less than a week ago to close out the regular season with the Maize and Blue claiming a 6-1 win.
Penn State 4, Purdue 1
Doubles
1) (PSU) Mark Barry/Malcolm Scatliffe 4
(PUR) Eric Hodgman/David Robinson 8
2) (PSU) Ryan Berger/Bradley Hunter 6
(PUR) Filip Koziell/Sounak Chatterjee 8
3) (PSU) Chris Sherman/Michael James 7
(PUR) Colin Foster/Scott Warner 7 (DNF)
Singles (matches played indoors)
1) (PSU) Mark Barry 6 6
(PUR) Filip Koziell 3 3
2) (PSU) Malcolm Scatliffe 6 6
(PUR) Sounak Chatterjee 4 4
3) (PSU) Ryan Berger 6 6
(PUR) David Robinson 3 1
4) (PSU) Bradley Hunter 6 6
(PUR) Colin Foster 2 0
5) (PSU) Michael James 7 5
(PUR) Scott Warner 6 (10) 3 (DNF)
6) (PSU) James Dwyer 6 (6) 2 (DNF)
(PUR) Eric Hodgman 7 5
