Hoosiers snap 9-year skid against Purdue

It was a long time coming.\nThe last time IU men's tennis beat Purdue: April 8, 1995. Ten years and 10 matches later, the Hoosiers regained victory over their in-state rival Saturday at the IU Varsity Tennis Courts, winning 5-2.\n"This was a great win for us," said junior John Stone. "We have lost to Purdue every year I have been here, so it was big to get this win."\nNo. 57 IU began the day by winning the doubles point. Although Purdue won the first doubles match at the No. 3 position, No. 1 and No. 2 doubles were both able to overcome the deficit and capture the crucial early point.\nStone and senior Ryan Recht, IU's No. 1 tandem, are beginning to shake off some early-season struggles. The duo has combined to win its last six matches, a departure from earlier form when the two seemingly lost every close break.\n"I think that we are over the hump," Recht said. "We lost a lot of matches just by one break. We knew that we were in all of those matches; it was just a matter of making an extra ball. We are playing with more consistency now and making a lot more balls. It has given us a chance to win more matches and we have taken advantage of that."\nThe Hoosiers sealed the win with strong singles play across the board, highlighted by senior Jakub Praibis' dominant win at the No. 1 position, 6-1, 6-0, over Sounak Chatterjee. The win bolsters the No. 39-ranked Praibis' singles tally to 12-3 this spring.\n"It feels good to win in doubles, singles and overall as a team," Praibis said. "This was very important for us to win this match."\nIU also gathered singles victories from Stone, junior Neil Kenner and sophomore David Bubenicek. \nCoach Ken Hydinger said he was satisfied with the team's hard-won effort.\n"Both singles and doubles had to battle today," he said. "Doubles was tough. This was a hard-fought match today."\nThe win moves IU up to .500 on the season at 8-8 overall. The win also moves the Hoosiers to 2-1 in the Big Ten. Purdue's loss drops them to 3-8 overall and 0-3 in league play.\nIU will travel north this weekend for a pair of Big Ten matches, as the team faces No. 59 Northwestern on Saturday and Wisconsin on Sunday. Both matches are scheduled to begin at noon.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Eamonn Brennan at eabrennan@indiana.edu.