Men Open Competition at Pacific Mountain Invitational, Women Face No. 43 SDSU

Friday, February 27

Honolulu, HI

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

San Diego State

Adrian Legarreta

Photo by: Darryl Webb

Men Open Competition at Pacific Mountain Invitational, Women Face No. 43 SDSU

2/27/2015 11:34:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis

The Grand Canyon University women's tennis team (2-6) faced No. 43 San Diego State (4-5) today in Honolulu, Hawaii while the men's squad (3-5) competed in the Pacific Mountain Invitational in Stockton, Calif. The women's team fell 6-1 against the Aztecs, while the men's team had a doubleheader against No. 71 Cal Poly (6-4) and Pacific (2-9). They played in a clench-clench format being defeated 4-0 and 4-1, respectively.

For the women's team, senior Priscilla Annoual earned the lone point for the Lopes. She faced off against Kristen Buth, dropping the opening set 6-2, before making a comeback. This marked her fourth singles win of the spring.

"The girls team had a tough day today," said head coach Greg Prudhomme. "They fought as hard as they could. They had great attitudes and fought until the last point. Priscilla was living proof of that. Even though we were down 6-0 in the score and she was down a set, she came back and won the second set. We got the last word in with her closing out the third set tiebreaker to finish with the point."

In doubles, the team squared off with tough competition, being swept for the first time since facing No. 23 South Carolina in January.

"The girls were a little bit drained from yesterday's emotional and physical fight, but they still put their best foot forward against a strong San Diego team," explained Prudhomme. "San Diego State played really well and we were toe-to-toe with them in the doubles with a 4-6 loss at number one and a 5-7 loss at number three. We served for the set at number three so we were competing really well right from the start but they got on us pretty quick in singles."

Annoual teamed up with Tatum Prudhomme at the number one slot while Lana Macukat and Lana Rinaldi competed at number three.

"We were doing our best to get momentum back in our favor but we weren't able to do it today," Prudhomme continued. "Our girls learned from a strong team. To get to play two top-50 teams back-to-back on the road was a great building experience for us. The girls faced the attitude and fight that is going to make them better moving forward. They're looking forward to getting home and starting off our home matches on Tuesday against Valparaiso and moving into some conference matches shortly after that."

The men's team opened their tournament against nationally-ranked Cal Poly.

In doubles, Meidy Chazeau and Gregoire Balenci won their match at number three 6-2 to extend their win streak to three.

"We started early today playing a strong Cal Poly team," explained assistant coach Amit Maharaj. "We were able to get a win at three doubles from Meidy and Greg. Our doubles play is improving. As a coach it is good to see our players use what we practice and apply it in matches."

Cal Poly clenched the doubles point with victories at both number one and number two. Alexander Roggenkamp's and Felix Schueller's loss at number one ended their four game win streak.

In singles, Schueller lost in straight sets to Ben Donovan snapping his four match win streak.

Three of the matches went unfinished after Cal Poly clenched the win. Balenci was competing in his third set when the match was called off.

"Our freshman, Greg, was fighting hard but was cut short early in the third when the match was decided," said Maharaj.

Against Pacific, the Lopes earned one win in both singles and doubles Philip Kuehnen and Adrian Legarreta won their match in the first flight 6-2. Legarreta also earned the singles victory with a 6-0, 7-6 against Jose Chamba.

"Playing double headers are always tough but our guys came out intense and with a lot of energy in the doubles against Pacific," Maharaj continued. "Our guys fought till the end. We were close to extending the match. We are going to take what we can from this match and learn and improve for next time."

The women's team will have their first home match of the spring on March 3 at 11 a.m. at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Ariz. The men's team will resume competition in the Pacific Mountain Invitational on Sunday Mar. 1 against Hawai'i.

Women's Results:
San Diego State 6, Grand Canyon 1

Men's Results:
Cal Poly 4, Grand Canyon 0
Pacific 4, Grand Canyon 1