GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 22 • 28
season at No. 3 singles
"Mateus was one of the best No. 6 play-
ers in the nation last year," Gajdzik said. "This
year, by the design of our lineup, he's playing
No. 3. That's a little bit of a different competi-
tion. He sees a different caliber player."
Despite this season's struggles, Gajdzik
is confident the program can head in the
right direction again shortly.
Gergely Madarasz and Benjamin Ugarte
are already on campus and will be eligible to
compete next year after sitting out this sea-
son due to conflicts with their professional
careers overseas.
Madarasz is the highest-ranked player
from the Association of Tennis Professionals,
starting his American collegiate career in the
2015-16 season (No. 618) while Ugarte is top
10 in that category as well (No. 786).
Dominik Sochurek, the No. 4 U18 player
in the Czech Republic, will join Purdue in
the fall. The three-person recruiting class is
ranked No. 22 in the country, a number Ga-
jdzik said would be much higher if recruiting
services factored in ATP rankings.
"At the end of the day, we see a big light
at the end of the tunnel," Gajdzik said. "We
have three players who are sitting out right
now who are good players and will make
our team a most likely top-10 contender
next year. … Every college coach in the na-
tion knows Purdue is coming up next year."
For now, though, Gajdzik and the Boil-
ermakers will hope their tough non-con-
ference schedule will pay off the rest of the
schedule.
Purdue hosts two unranked foes in
Morehead State and Dayton this week-
end, opens Big Ten play the following week
against Northwestern, then wraps up non-
conference play with the Oracle Challenge,
which Gajdzik called the most prestigious
tournament in college tennis outside of the
NCAAs.
"The record is what it is, but we have a
lot of matches ahead of us, and hopefully
that strong competition in the non-confer-
ence will prepare us better for the Big Ten,"
Gajdzik said. "Overall, we want to secure an
NCAA Tournament bid with our non-confer-
ence strength. If we want to
be a top-10 team in the na-
tion, we need to schedule
hard."
Medinilla said while
Purdue's record may not be
where it wants to be now, he sees it improv-
ing the rest of the way.
"It's been a tough schedule and even
tougher with a young and inexperienced
team," Medinilla said. "I think we're used to
playing against good players and in the con-
ference, we'll play worse teams. I think we'll
be in better shape than a lot of them."j
Links
PurdueSports.com: No. 32 Boilermakers take down No. 54 Memphis, 5-1, in women's tennis
PurdueSports.com: Seniors lead the way as Boilers lock up fifth place at Big Tens in women's swimming
PurdueSports.com: Boilermakers in 10th place after Day 1 of Puerto Rico Classic in men's golf
PurdueSports.com: Senior wrestlers ignite Holloway in final dual, thump Indiana
PurdueSports.com: Triple play burns Boilers in 1-0 loss to Missouri
PurdueSports.com: Boilers break three relay school records at Alex Wilson Invite
Purdue
Mateus Silva thrived at the back end of Purdue's rotation
last season, but has struggled in a bigger role.
WINTER BLUES
With a much tougher
schedule than past
seasons, the men's ten-
nis team's January and
February record has taken
a significant slide this
season:
2011: 6-2
2012: 4-2
2013: 9-3
2014: 4-1
2015: 2-6
