Schroeder, Kirby shine at Ojai tourney

OJAI, Calif. -- Eric Schroeder and Brian Kirby came to Grand Canyon to help revive the Antelopes men's tennis program.

Their presence paid dividends Friday when both recorded wins at the 109th Ojai Valley Tournament.

Schroeder rallied to beat Whittier College's Taylor Dimler, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of singles play. Kirby won a thrilling third-set match against Pomona-Pitzer's Yuki Sakakibara, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) to advance to the round of 32.

Schroeder fell in the second round to No. 4 seed Joel Myers of Point Loma Nazarene, 6-1, 6-0. Kirby lost his second round match to third-seeded Vicente Joli, 6-2, 6-2.

Schroeder and Kirby (pictured together) lost a first round doubles match to Concordia's Chris Paish and Bruno Santarelli, 6-1, 6-2.

GCU's Andrew Zappala lost in the first round to Westmont's Kent Stormans, 6-1, 6-0.

"The men played great today," GCU first-year coach Greg Prudhomme said. "It was a great way to end the season with Eric and Brian winning three-set matches. Getting two wins of this type in Ojai was a good show of the improvement that the GCU men made this year."

Kirby lost three three-set matches this year, and was able to save five match points and rally from a 5-2 deficit to win the final set in a tiebreaker.

"This is the type of match that he was losing earlier in the year," Prudhomme said.

Grand Canyon's doubles team of Chris Green and Zappala lost to Biola's Weston Leopold and Colin Snow, 6-0, 7-5.

The Antelopes were competing in their first year of men's tennis in 20 years this season.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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