Reese Frank secured a hard-fought singles victory for Purdue women's tennis on Saturday at the Battle for the Boot JAE Foundation Open, while Jennifer Florea and Gabby Davydov combined for a doubles win. Frank defeated Rice's Josephine Kunz in three sets, helping the Boilermakers record two victories across singles and doubles on Day 2 of the tournament.
Purdue also saw Ece Gencer and Kathryn Wilson compete in closely contested three-set singles matches, although both players narrowly missed out on victories. The team will conclude its competition at the event on Sunday.
Reese Frank Wins Three-Set Singles Battle
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Frank delivered one of Purdue's standout performances of the day, overcoming Kunz of Rice in a match that went the distance. After taking the opening set 6-3, Frank lost the second set 5-7, forcing the contest into a deciding match tiebreak.
She responded strongly in the decider, winning 10-2 to secure a 6-3, 5-7, 10-2 victory.
The result gave Purdue an important singles win against Rice and highlighted Frank's ability to recover after dropping the second set.
Florea and Davydov Deliver in Doubles
Purdue's other victory came in doubles, where Florea and Davydov defeated Notre Dame's Esther Vrylan and Jessica Kovalcik 6-4.
The pair secured the win in a single set, adding another positive result to Purdue's Day 2 performances.
However, Florea and Davydov faced different outcomes in their individual singles matches. Florea fell to Rice's Fernanda Martinez 3-6, 1-6, while Davydov lost to Rice's Nithesa Selvaraj 5-7, 3-6.
Gencer and Wilson Fall in Tight Three-Set Matches
Gencer and Wilson both pushed their Northwestern opponents into deciding sets but were unable to turn their performances into victories.
Gencer faced Autumn Rabjohns in a particularly close contest. After losing the opening set 6-7(4), Gencer fought back to win the second 6-3. The match was ultimately decided by a narrow 13-11 margin in the final match tiebreak, with Rabjohns taking the victory.
Wilson also recovered after losing the first set against Northwestern's Marelie Raath. She won the second set 6-3 before Raath prevailed 10-6 in the deciding tiebreak. The final score was 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 in Raath's favour.
Both matches demonstrated how closely contested the singles action was, with the deciding stages proving crucial.
Purdue Drops Another Doubles Match
Frank and Gencer also teamed up in doubles against Notre Dame's Bianca Molnar and Lily Rochon. The Notre Dame pair won the match 6-2, leaving Purdue with one doubles victory from its two reported matches on Saturday.
Across the day's five singles matches, Purdue recorded one win and four losses. In doubles, the Boilermakers split their two results, with Florea and Davydov claiming the team's only doubles victory.
Purdue Women's Tennis Looks Ahead to Sunday
Purdue will wrap up its participation in the Battle for the Boot JAE Foundation Open on Sunday. Frank's singles victory and the doubles success from Florea and Davydov provided positive results on Day 2, while the narrow losses for Gencer and Wilson offered reminders of how decisive match tiebreaks can be in tournament tennis.
The team will look to finish the event strongly as competition concludes.
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