Men's, Women's Tennis Close Out Competition at ITA Southwest Regionals

Thursday, October 15

Malibu, Calif.

All Day

Grand Canyon

ITA Southwest Regional

Photo by: Darryl Webb

Men's, Women's Tennis Close Out Competition at ITA Southwest Regionals

10/18/2015 11:27:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis

The Grand Canyon University men's and women's tennis teams competed in the ITA Southwest Regionals this weekend in California. The men's team competed in Malibu, while the women's squad took on the competition in San Diego.

"The men's and women's teams received the top competition at the ITA Regionals that we expected," said head coach Greg Prudhomme. "Every team in the Southwest Region was represented in this tournament, including USC who has won 5 out of the last 7 NCAA championships on the men's side. Although we did not put as many wins on the board as we would have liked on the main side of the draw both teams had highlights as well as earned some good wins in the consolation."

In singles, Felix Schueller advanced the furthest in the main draws, making it to the round of 16. He won the round of 64 in a three set battle over Loyola Marymount's Lukas Moenter (4-6, 6-2, 6-0), before picking up another strong win over Frederik Gelbrich from San Diego State. Schueller fell just short in the opening set's tiebreaker but made a strong comeback in the next to earn the victory 7-5, 6-4. Schueller fell in the round of 16 to Pepperdine's Guilherme Hadlich.

"A milestone for the men's team is the win that Felix Schueller earned en route to the final 16 against Frederic Gelbrech from San Diego State, the No. 77 ranked singles player in the NCAA," explained Prudhomme. "This is the first top-100 individual win for a GCU male that we've gotten during the season since our DI transition. Felix proved what we knew would soon happen and showed that our players can compete with and earn wins against the best of them."

GCU advanced two athletes to the consolation quarterfinals in singles. Gregoire Balenci won his match over Cal Poly's Karl Enander in a three set match (3-6, 6-3, 10-8). Against James Ponwith from San Diego, Balenci squared off for another three-set match, winning the opening set in a tiebreaker before splitting the next two (5-7, 10-6) for the win. He was defeated by San Diego's Filip Vittek.

Also making it to the consolation quarterfinals was senior Meidy Chazeau. He advanced over an athlete from San Diego in three-sets before facing a close victory over teammate Justin Cvitanovic. USC's Conner Farron defeated him in the quarterfinals.

"On the women's side, Tatum Prudhomme and Susan Baklini performed well by getting into the top 16 of the draw with the region's best doubles teams," continued Prudhomme. "Tatum and Susie won their round of 64 match by avenging a loss against the top San Diego team that knocked Tatum and her partner out of the tournament in the same round last year."

Baklini and Prudhomme won the match over San Diego 8-5 before reciprocating the score in their victory over Hawai'i. They fell to a pair from Pepperdine in the round of 16.

In singles, Prudhomme fell in a tough three-set match against Loyola Marymount's Andrea Crespo, but advanced to the consolation semifinals. She defeated San Diego State's Olivia Larsson 8-1 and Hawai'i's Roxanne Resma 8-5. She went on to win her match over Cal State Northride's Vivian Lin 8-2. She was defeated by Michaela Capannolo from Pepperdine 8-3.

"Another highlight for the women was Tatum's three-match winning streak to get to the consolation semi-finals after losing a close three-set match in the first round," said Prudhomme. "Lana Macukat and Lana Rinaldi also started the tournament well with solid wins in the first round."

"We're looking forward to making more improvements on the practice courts based on what we learned in the event," Prudhomme concluded.

The Grand Canyon men's squad will compete next weekend in Las Vegas, Nev., Oct.30-Nov. 1, at the UNLV Invite. The women's team is off until Nov. 5-8, in which GCU will host their fall invite for both squads. A full recap of the UNLV Invite will be available at www.gculopes.com. Fans are encouraged to attend the home event out at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Ariz.