GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 7 • 42
their outside hitters but I've
seen them play at a much
higher level," Shondell said.
Middle blocker Awele
Nwaeze was a force in the
heart of the Hoosier offense,
hammering down nine kills
with just one error and a .529
hitting percentage. Fellow
middle blocker Jazzmine Mc-
Donald chipped in six kills at a
.364 rate.
"Their middles are really
good," Shondell said. "We can't
let their middles … hit the
way they did (Wednesday) on
Saturday."
j
LINKS
JCOnline.com: Workman a
rock for Purdue defense
PurdueExponent.org: Rough
streak continues for soccer
against conference foes
PurdueSports.com: Women's
golf finishes ninth at Windy
City Collegiate Classic
PurdueSports.com: Mc-
Clintock takes fifth at Notre
Dame Invite
PurdueSports.com: Wres-
tling to hold open practice
OLYMPIC ATHLETE-OF-THE-WEEK: ANDJELA DJOKOVIC
T
he women's tennis team's reigning Most
Improved Player has made even bigger
strides this fall.
Sophomore Andjela Djokovic is off to
a 6-0 start this season, including three wins
over the weekend in the Purdue Invitational.
After winning only eight of 20 singles
matches in straight sets in the spring, she's
done so five times already this fall against
opponents from Louisville, Illinois and
Notre Dame in the Notre Dame Invitation-
al and Michigan and Miami (Ohio) in the
Purdue Invitational.
Louisville's Aleksandra Molly handed
Djokovic her lone set loss last Friday before
Djokovic recovered with 6-2 and 6-1 wins to
take the match.
"I bring intensity from the first point,"
Djokovic said. "I'm not backing down when
I'm up either. In tennis, it's really easy to get carried away once you're
winning and slow down a bit."
Djokovic's 6-0 start already tops her win total from last fall, when
she finished with a 4-8 mark.
"Last fall, I was so scared to lose," Djokovic said. "Now, I'm just taking
everything point by point and not really thinking about the score and
just making sure I'm doing the right things and going for it."
Djokovic returned home to Australia for winter break after the slow
start to her collegiate career and said she came back with a new men
-
tality after working on her technique with her father.
"I came back to Purdue and I was calm, cool and collected as op-
posed to fall," Djokovic said. "I knew what to expect. I gave it my all and
improved."
Djokovic got an opportunity to show her improvements when in-
juries thrust her into the No. 6 spot in the
Purdue lineup against Arkansas on Feb. 16.
She won her match against the Razor-
backs and, by the end of the season, she
held team-highs in wins (15) and Big Ten
wins (9), including winning streaks of eight
and six, respectively.
"She got a couple wins and just kept
rolling the rest of the season," Coach Laura
Glitz said. "She's always had a lot of talent,
she just started putting it all together and
really competing well."
While Djokovic shined in singles play in
the spring, she was one of just two players
on the nine-player roster with a losing re-
cord in doubles matches at 1-3.
"I get a lot more worried in doubles,"
Djokovic said. "In singles, if I miss a ball, I
couldn't care less. In doubles if I miss, I
don't want to let down my partner. Doubles is more fun for me, but I
find singles is better for me just because of my attitude."
She said she feels more comfortable in doubles now and has the
record to prove it, with a 5-3 mark alongside Deborah Suarez.
"(We've) worked a lot on our volleys and net play especially," Djokov-
ic said. "We've finished most of our points at the net instead of playing
long, grueling rallies at the net and maybe winning, maybe losing."
Glitz, who expects Djokovic to be in a top three singles for the Boil-
ermakers this spring or next season, said the sophomore's intangibles
are standing out in addition to her talent.
"Not only does she come out and play well, but she brings a lot
of energy," Glitz said. "Her intensity and work ethic is really good. She
makes the people around her better."
— Travis Baugh
Purdue
