Men Open Road Trip 2-0; Women Sweep Idaho State

Sunday, March 22

Phoenix, AZ

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Idaho State

Adrian Legarreta

Photo by: Darryl Webb

3/22/2015 6:49:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis

The Grand Canyon University men's and women's tennis teams completed three matches today. The men's team (6-7) started off their trip to Las Vegas, Nev., with a 6-1 win over Idaho State (5-4) before facing Southern Utah (0-8) in a 7-0 sweep at the Darling Tennis Center. The women's team hosted Idaho State at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Ariz., to earn a 7-0 shutout.

"The men's tennis team got off to a great start for our four match road trip here in Las Vegas," said head coach Greg Prudhomme. "It was nice to see the strong win against Idaho State. We beat them stronger than we did last year so it's a good benchmark to show that we're making improvements from year-to-year."

GCU picked up the doubles point with wins on the first and second courts. Adrian Legarreta and Philip Kuehnen snagged the 6-3 victory on court one while Felix Schueller and Alexander Roggenkamp earned theirs 6-4.

"We got off to a good start by winning a close doubles point," Prudhomme continued. "We then got the first set on five out of the sixth courts in the singles. We had to work hard in three sets at one and two and won one of them. We got all of the others in straight sets so it was a good start to the day."

In singles, the team went 5-1. Schueller and Roggenkamp each faced three-set matches. Schueller came from behind to win his match against Daniel Loebel 4-6, 6-3, 10-3. Roggenkamp came up just short in his match against Krzystof Stempien.

"The guys capped off a successful and long day with a 7-0 win against Southern Utah," Prudhomme said. "They showed more signs of improvement from the beginning of the season, getting the doubles point again and making quick work on most of the courts."

Grand Canyon only gave up one game in their doubles campaign against the Thunderbirds. Legarreta and Kuehnen earned the 6-0 victory as well as Meidy Chazeau and Gregoire Balenci.

In singles, five out of six matches were won in two-sets.

Legarreta faced the only three-set match against Troy Benson. He fell short in the opening set 6-1, but came back to win the second 6-3. In the third, he snagged an 11-9 win for his ninth straight victory.

"The match of the day against Southern Utah was Adrian fighting off two match-points in the third set tiebreaker to give us the shutout," continued Prudhomme.

Freshman Mathieu Ounanian also stepped in for a pair of singles matches, extending his singles record to 4-1.

"It was a good day to get a couple of wins and it gave good confidence for the guys," Prudhomme concluded. "It shows them the improvements they have made during the season and from last year to this. We'll recover tonight and give it another strong run tomorrow."

On the women's side, the squad swept the doubles matches to open the day. Priscilla Annoual and Tatum Prudhomme earned the first victory 8-2 while Silvia Tumova and Alexandra Petrzalkova clinched the doubles point with their 8-4 win. Lana Rinaldi and Lana Macukat won their match 8-5 to secure the shutout.

"We started strong in the doubles, getting all three points," explained assistant coach Amit Maharaj. "We used that momentum to carry us into singles."

In singles, the Lopes earned all of their wins in straight sets and held their opponents to a score of 6-1 in seven out of 12 sets. Annoual's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kasey Bacon netted her six straight win while Petrzalkova earned her fifth straight after defeating Svenja Tegtmeier.

Macukat won her opening set 7-5 against Madelyn Weltzin and came from behind in the second set to snag the win 6-4.

"It was good to get the win after coming off the road last night," continued Maharaj. "It was a big turnaround coming out today for another home match. The girls came out with high energy and a good attitude and effort. They battled hard in the singles matches today and we look forward to coming out again tomorrow for another match against Idaho State."

The men's team will continue their road trip in Las Vegas with a match against Seattle U at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The women's team will host their second match against Idaho State tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Ariz. Fans are encouraged to come check out the match. A full recap of both events will be available at www.gculopes.com.

Men's Results
GCU 6, ISU 1
GCU 7, SUU 0

Women's Results
GCU 7, ISU 0