Men's Tennis Defeats D-I Northern Arizona in Season Opener

Friday, February 4

Glendale, AZ

2:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Northern Arizona

Patrice Giraldi

Men's Tennis Defeats D-I Northern Arizona in Season Opener

2/4/2011 10:38:44 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Marina Nesic

The Grand Canyon University men's tennis team defeated Division I Northern Arizona University, 4-3, todat at the Paseo Racquet Club in Glendale. It was the Antelopes' first-ever win over the Lumberjacks.

"We have arrived,” GCU Head Coach Greg Prudhomme said after the win in the 'Lopes' season opener.

GCU brought back men’s tennis in 2009, following a 22-year layoff. Three years later, the ‘Lopes swept doubles and picked up three singles wins over NAU, which dropped 2-2 on the season.

"This was a monumental win for the short three-year history of the men's tennis program at GCU," Prudhomme said. "I knew we had a strong recruiting class of players, but we don't know for sure until they take the court. The team showed how tough they are and how far they have come by beating Division I Northern Arizona University by a score of 4-3.”

The ‘Lopes started off strong, winning all three doubles matches. GCU’s Frederic Schoelzel and Stephane tandem of Murray defeated NAU’s Schimmelbauck and Pezzutto 8-7(3); Patrice Giraldi and Ahmad Saleem beat Ramadier and Bermudez, 8-5; and Kevin Anderson and Will Herbert defeated Flodberg/Brown, 8-3.

Last year, Antelopes played lost to NAU, 7-0.

“There were so many highlights from today's match that I don't even know where to begin," Prudhomme said. "The biggest highlight is how we played as a team. We had five new starters on the court out of six, and it looked like they have been teammates for a very long time. We really set the tone and made ourselves believers when we swept all three doubles courts. We used that momentum to take the first set on five of six courts. “

GCU's next match is against Hawaii Hilo at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in Glendale.

Here are the scores of today's singles and doubles matches:

Singles

Ahmad Saleem, GCU, defeated Hugo Ramadier, NAU, 6-3, 6-3

Patric Schimmelbauck, NAU, defeated Patrice Giraldi, GCU, 5-7, 6-4, 6-8 injury retirement

Frederic Schoelzel, GCU, defeated Robin Pezzutto, NAU, 6-4, 6-2

Stephane Murray, GCU, defeated David Flodberg, NAU, 6-3, 6-1

Dominic Bermudez, NAU, defeated Kevin Anderson, GCU, 6-2, 6-2

Josh Brown, NAU, defeated Jake Spizman, GCU, 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-8

Doubles

Schoelzel/Murray, GCU, defeated Schimmelbauck/Pezzutto, NAU, 8-7(3)

Giraldi/Saleem, GCU, defeated Ramadier/Bermudez, NAU, 8-5