IllustrateD volume 24, issue 5 85
f
No. 28 ranking on April 15. This season, the Boiler-
makers have beaten nine top-75 ranked teams through
the end of the regular season in late April, compared
to only 14 wins against ranked foes as Gajdzik built
the program through his first four years.
Among this year's wins was a 6-1 victory against No.
16 Penn State, the highest-ranked foe the Boilermak-
ers have beaten in the program's history. It was also
Purdue's eighth-straight victory, the school's longest
streak since 1996, and was snapped only in a narrow
4-3 loss vs. top-ranked Ohio State on April 13.
This was almost unthinkable five years ago, when
Gajdzik took over a Purdue program that hadn't been
to an NCAA Tournament since 2002 and was flounder-
ing, even though it had a new facility in the Schwartz
Tennis Center.
Gajdzik recalls beating 48th-ranked Northwestern
in his first season in 2010 and watching that Boiler-
maker squad react as if it had won the Super Bowl.
"And I was like, 'Well, what just happened?' " Ga-
jdzik said. "(They said), 'Well, coach, this was the
highest-ranked team we ever beat since my four years
here.' And I thought, 'This is 48. We want to be (high-
er up) here.'
"But that's what you were faced with, that was the
reality of that team, and they were great guys, worked
hard and studied hard, were great student-athletes but
they were just not the vision of where we want to be."
Gajdzik, a native of Szczecin, Poland, has infused
talent into the program during his tenure — he calls it
"aggressive recruiting" — feeling that's the quickest
way to build. And he's done well, each season bring-
ing in a more highly ranked recruit than the season
before, the latest being Ricky Medinilla, a top-50 pros-
pect in his class who plays No. 1 doubles and No. 2 sin-
gles as a freshman for the Boilermakers this season.
"You have to bring talented players and you've got
to bring players who want to be here," Gajdzik said.
"Obviously, throughout the last four years we've been
unlocking more tomorrows
our mission is discovery
our goal is to cure cancer.
cancerresearch.purdue.edu
Dorothy Teegarden, PhD
Professor, Foods and Nutrition
Purdue
Senior Aaron Dujovne has seen expectations rise since he
first came to campus four years ago, from Purdue hoping to
win to knowing it can win.
