April 13, 2013

Final Stats

MADISON, Wis. – Despite strong performances from Hannah Berner and Lauren Chypyha, the Wisconsin women’s tennis team fell to No. 23 Purdue (14-3, 6-2 B1G), 5-2, on Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette.  

“I’m really proud of how we competed today,” said head coach Brian Fleishman. “We’ve really come a long way since the beginning of the season. We didn’t start off great in doubles today, but we gained some momentum in singles, and unfortunately today came down to a few points that didn’t go our way in the No. 3 and 5 matches.”

Losses at the No. 2 and 3 doubles slots clinched the doubles point for Purdue and halted a competitive match for the Badgers (4-15, 2-6 B1G) at No. 1.

Helen Rabot and Lauren Burich were no match for Gisella Pere and Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum in the No. 3 match, losing 8-2 to open the day’s action. The Boilermakers clinched the point with Lynda Xepoleas and Daniela Vidal’s 8-4 defeat of Katie Hoch and Anastasia Tripolskaya at No. 2. With the doubles point no longer in doubt, the No. 1 match was called with Berner and Chypyha hot on the heels of No. 25 Krisztina Kapitany and Mara Schmidt, down just 7-5.    

Purdue continued its hot start by getting the first two singles wins of the match to run its lead to 3-0. First, Bernard-Feigenbaum took down Burich at No. 4, 6-0, 6-1. Kapitany followed suit by breezing past Rabot at No. 6, 6-2, 6-0.

After struggling early, Wisconsin rebounded behind strong matches from the top of its singles lineup. Chypyha got UW on the board with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Xepoleas at No. 2, and Berner bested Schmidt at No. 1, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to get the Badgers within one, 3-2.

“Chypyha played with a lot of confidence and was extremely focused today,” Fleishman said. “Berner performed at the same high level that she’s been playing at all season. She’s a great role model on game day by really competing hard and always giving a total effort.”

The Boilermakers scored victories in the day’s final two matches to clinch the overall win. Vidal’s win over Tripolskaya in the No. 3 match, 7-5, 6-4, gave Purdue its fourth point of the day to lock up the victory. Pere put the finishing touches on the win by topping Hoch at No. 5, 6-1, 6-7, 6-2.

The Badgers have a quick turnaround, as they head to Bloomington for a 10 a.m. match against Indiana on Sunday.

No. 23 Purdue, 5, Wisconsin, 2