Lopes Open Play at NIT Tennis Tournament

Saturday, April 26

Omaha, NE

8 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Omaha

Ahmad Saleem

Photo by: Theon Carrier

4/26/2014 7:55:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis

Men split, women defeat Omaha

The Grand Canyon men's and women's tennis teams completed day one of the National Invitational Tennis Tournament today at the Koch Family Tennis Center in Omaha, Neb. The men split a pair of matches, while the women won their lone match of the day.

The men opened the day with a 7-0 sweep of host Omaha.

Ahmad Saleem, at No. 2 singles, battled back from an opening set loss to win 6-4 in the second and take the match tiebreaker, 10-8.

Alexander Roggenkamp won in straight sets at No. 6 singles, raising his then win streak to seven matches.

"The guys got off to a good start this weekend with a win over the host school," said head coach Greg Prudhomme. "Ahmad did a nice job rebounding from an opening set loss to win his match. We adjusted well to the new conditions we are seeing this weekend."

The nightcap was a rematch with Abilene Christian, a match GCU won 4-3 on Jan. 25 in Colorado Springs, Colo. This time, however, Abilene Christian turned the tables on the Antelopes, defeating them 4-3.

ACU opened the match by winning two of the doubles matches to earn the doubles point and 1-0 lead.

The two sides split the singles matches with GCU's Nicolas Moulin (No. 1), Adrian Legarreta (No.3) and Felix Schueller (No. 5) picking up straight-set wins. GCU's Benjamin Collomb dropped a hard fought three-setter at No. 4 singles. He dropped the opening set in a tiebreaker, before rallying to even the match with a 6-2 win. Collomb would fall 2-6 in the decisive third set.

"The men's match was a barnburner as we knew it would be based off our earlier season match with them," added Prudhomme. "As we did in our first meeting, we split the singles matches, but unfortunately did not win the doubles as we did last time. I'm really proud of how our guys competed in their second match of the day and commend ACU on a great match."

GCU's record now stands at 11-7 overall, with one match remaining tomorrow against NJIT, which will close out the 2014 campaign.

The women cruised in their lone match of the day, winning 7-0 over host Omaha without dropping a single set. All told, the Antelopes only dropped 24 games in nine matches.

On the doubles side, Priscilla Annoual and Tatum Prudhomme won 8-3, winning for the sixth-straight time and improving their overall record to 11-5.

Prudhomme won for the seventh-straight match with her 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles. Silvia Tumova won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles for her sixth win in a row.

"The girls did a great job today in conditions that saw 30 mph winds at times," said Prudhomme. "The ladies took control early and had a great day. We are looking forward to tomorrow."

The women will also wrap up the 2014 season tomorrow, when they will face Abilene Christian.

GCU 7 Omaha 0 (men)
ACU 4 GCU 3 (men)
GCU 7 Omaha 0 (women)