The Grand Canyon University men’s and women’s tennis teams dropped their semifinal matches today at the Pacific West Conference Championships at the Central Oaho Regional Park in Waipahu, Hawai’i.
The men’s squad, seeded fifth for the championships, lost to top-seed Hawai’i Pacific 5-0. The Antelopes fell to 13-8, HPU improved to 17-3. GCU will compete in the third-place match tomorrow against Asuza Pacific beginning at 3:30 p.m. (Arizona time).
“We had some tough matches today,” said head coach Greg Prudhomme. “Both matches got off to exciting starts. The men fought hard at No. 2 doubles and had a match point. I was proud of their performance. Azusa has edged us in our previous meetings and the guys are looking forward to getting another crack at them tomorrow.”
Alexander Roggenkamp and
Felix Schueller, ranked ninth in the west region, fell 9-8 in a tough match at No. 2 doubles.
GCU’s
Yann Kaelin fell in straight sets at the No. 1 singles spot to Petr Michnev, the second-ranked player in the nation. Meidy Chazeu also fell in straight sets.
The third-seeded GCU women lost 5-1 to second-seed BYU-Hawai’i. GCU’s overall record now stands at 12-5, BYU-Hawai’i improved to 26-1. The Antelopes will now face fourth-seed Fresno Pacific in the third-place match tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. (Arizona time).
“Priscilla and Justine played the longest pro-set doubles match in the history of my coaching career,” added Prudhomme. “The match went 1:50. We ended up losing it, but it was a phenomenal effort against the best in the country. Had we had taken that point we would have had a fighting chance in singles. We had some good singles performances, but now our girls are setting their sights on tomorrow and securing third place in this championship.”
Katharina Mittag picked up the lone point for GCU after her opponent retired during the No.2 singles match.
16th-ranked
Priscilla Annoual and
Justine Majan pushed the nation’s top-ranked duo of Annie Hwang and Sherry Liu, before falling 8-6 in the No. 1 doubles match. Annoual and Majan led 6-4.
All matches tomorrow can be followed live at www.GCULopes.com.
HPU 5 GCU 0 (men)
BYUH 5 GCU 1 (women)