GCU Drops Hard-Fought Match Against New Mexico State

Sunday, March 29

Edinburg, TX

7 a.m.

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

Philip Kuehnen

Photo by: Darryl Webb

3/29/2015 2:39:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Rounding out their opening weekend of conference competition, the Grand Canyon University men' tennis team (9-9) faced off against New Mexico State (7-11) in a close battle in Edinburg, Tex., at the Orville Cox Tennis Center. The Lopes came up just short, losing the match 4-3.

"It would be an understatement to say the guys had a tough one today," said head coach Greg Prudhomme. "They had a near-win against the number one team in the Western Athletic Conference."

Grand Canyon opened the contest by capturing the doubles point for the seventh match in a row. Philip Kuehnen and Adrian Legarreta picked up the 8-5 win on court one, while Meidy Chazeau and Gregoire Balenci battled on court three for the second win. They won the match in a tiebreaker for their sixth consecutive victory.

"The guys improved on last year by getting out there and winning the doubles point against New Mexico State," Prudhomme explained. "Last year, we dropped it, so the guys were very determined and believed that they could get the win today, so starting off with that lead was proof of how they were going into the match."

In singles, Alexander Roggenkamp defeated Paul Denele in straight sets on the second court. Kuehnen earned his sixth straight victory with his triumph over Liam Goldberg 6-3, 7-5.

"As expected in the singles, it was neck-in-neck," continued Prudhomme. "We started off up a set on three of the courts and down a set on three of the courts. We came back in one of the matches that we lost the first set to force a third, while New Mexico State did the same to us to force a third on another court."

Grand Canyon was defeated in both three-set contests. On court three, Legarreta's 13-game streak was snapped by Christofer Goncalves with the 7-5, 4-6, 4-6 defeat. Chazeau came back in his match to force the third set, but fell short of victory.

"It's definitely a tough loss to take, knowing that we were that close to beating the best team," Prudhomme explained. "There were times when we were in the striking distance to get the win and then they'd come back."

"It was a great match," concluded Prudhomme. "We're going to build from it and keep getting better in both this season and in future seasons. The guys are going to continue working hard back on the practice courts, before we go back out for our final two conference matches in Chicago."

Grand Canyon will close out their conference matches against Kansas City and Seattle U on April 11-12 in Chicago, Ill. The matches will be played at 2 p.m. and 6 a.m., respectively. A full recap of the event will be available at www.gculopes.com.

NMSU 4, GCU 3