IOWA CITY, Iowa – No. 14 seed Rutgers tennis concluded its 2022 season with a first round exit at the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday, falling 4-3 to 11-seed Purdue in a nearly five-hour match at Iowa's Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.
With the score knotted at 3-3, the match came down to a marathon meeting at fifth singles, where
Daira Cardenas rebounded from a 5-7 first set loss with a 7-6 (8-6) win in the second set to stay alive. Seira Shimizu outlasted Cardenas in the back-and-forth battle in another tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-3).
As they did in their regular season matchup on April 17, Rutgers claimed the doubles point against the Boilermakers.
Tess Fisher and
Alisa Prinyarux breezed to a 6-2 win at first doubles, then
Minchae Kim and
Sydney Kaplan clinched the point with a 7-6 (7-5) victory at the No. 3 spot.
Purdue nudged ahead, 2-1, with wins at second and third singles. Prinyarux evened the match again at 2-2 with her straight-set win at the No. 6 spot (6-1, 6-2). Fisher followed with a win at first singles, outlasting Purdue's No. 1 in a thrilling first set, 7-6(10-8), before breaking a serve at 3-3 in the second set en route to a 6-3 triumph and the team point for RU.
Purdue came from behind to win in three sets at fourth singles to set up the deciding match in the No. 5 position.
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