WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women’s tennis team opened conference play by sweeping Rutgers.
Redshirt senior Liz Norman recorded a commanding win over Rutgers’ Jackeline Lopez for the first singles win of the day. Norman held Lopez to only three sets the whole match with her 6-1, 6-2 success at No.1.
Senior Csilla Fodor also had a dominant win in singles at the No. 2 spot. With her 6-3, 6-2 win over Tara Chilton from Rutgers, Fodor is five wins away from securing her place in the program’s all-time top-15.
The Boilermakers sophomore corp fought through their matches. Sophomore Tara Katarina Milic carried her No. 4 match into a third set after taking the second set 6-2. Milic battled Mai Nguyen from Rutgers for the upperhand, eventually winning the set 11-9 and winning the match.
Sophomore Juana Larranaga won her first set 6-0 over Minchae Kim from Rutgers. Kim tried to come back and take the second, but Larranaga did not let up. After driving the set to a tie break, the Argentinian won 7-3 to take the match at No. 6.
Carmen Gallardo Guevara defeated Amira Badawi from Rutgers 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3. The sophomore held an early lead, but fell behind in the second set. She fought back to retake her lead and win the match.
Freshman Kennedy Gibbs continued her impressive run at No. 5. Gibbs battled Rutgers’ Arina Valitova in the first set, but she really got in the zone in the second to take home a 6-4, 6-0 win.
In doubles, it was a race to the finish. Gibbs and Larranaga continued to have success at No. 3 with a 6-3 win over Chloe Brown and Daira Cardenas from Rutgers. The duo have only lost one match this spring.
The other half of the doubles point came from Norman and Fodor in the No. 1 spot. The pair finished off Rutgers’ Chilton and Nguyen 6-2.
Moments before doubles play finished, Milic and Gallardo Guevara secured the point they needed to take the match to another set at No. 2. Their match against Lopez and Valitova has one set left when play was halted leaving the score at 6-5.
PURDUE (10-1, 1-0) – 7, RUTGERS (8-4, 0-2) – 0
SINGLES
1. Liz Norman (PUR) def. Jackeline Lopez (RU) – 6-1, 6-2
2. Csilla Fodor (PUR) def. Tara Chilton (RU) – 6-3, 6-2
3. Carmen Gallardo Guevara (PUR) def. Amira Badawi (RU) – 6-4, 6-4
4. Tara Katarina Milic (PUR) def. Mai Nguyen (RU) – 5-7, 6-2, 11-9
5. Kennedy Gibbs (PUR) def. Arina Valitova…
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