The Grand Canyon University men's tennis team (0-3) faced off against No. 73 Utah State (8-1) tonight in Glendale, Ariz. The team was defeated 5-2 by the Aggies.
"We lost today, but it was our best match of the season so far," said head coach Greg Prudhomme. "It was the first ranked team we were playing, so to have our best match and come the closest in a match with a ranked team shows that the guys are improving fast."
"They learned from the two matches on the road a couple weeks ago," continued Prudhomme. "We saw some adjustments that we made in practice come out in their play today. It's certainly hard to lose it because we had some chances, but the chances were only there because we worked hard to earn them and to deserve them."
Felix Schueller won both his matches today with the first victory being earned alongside teammate
Alexander Roggenkamp for the Lopes first doubles win of the season. They defeated Jack Swindells and Matt Sweet with a 6-2 win in the second slot.
The Aggies went on to receive the doubles point, earning victories at both the first and third slots.
In singles, Schueller won his match in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 over Swindells.
"The highlights were from the points that we put on the board," Prudhomme explained. We got our first doubles win today at number two doubles. We also got a win at number one singles, so if we can win at that spot against a ranked DI team, we're on the right track and we're doing the right things."
Meidy Chazeau earned the second point for GCU, winning his match against Sweet 6-4, 7-6.
"It was nice to see Meidy get another win," Prudhomme said. "He has really matured a lot in his time here at Grand Canyon. He struggled to win matches in position six in Division II and now he's winning matches in a higher position at Division I."
Roggenkamp fell short in a hard-fought battle against Karan Salwan, facing a three-set match. He won the opening set 6-0, but lost the second 5-7. The Aggies earned their final point of the match when Salwan won the third set's tiebreaker 10-8 over Roggenkamp.
"It's nice to see that the players are being developed, so we're just going to keep working hard and have a short night," Prudhomme concluded. "Although the loss is burning a little, I think the guys are motivated and they're ready to play again tomorrow."
Grand Canyon will have their last home match of the season tomorrow at 12 p.m. against Western New Mexico. Fans are encouraged to come out to Paseo Racquet Center to catch the Lopes in action. A full recap of the day will be available at
www.gculopes.com.
Utah State 5, Grand Canyon 2