GCU drops season opener to UC Irvine

Saturday, January 16

Irvine, Calif.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

UC Irvine

1/16/2016 10:36:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Steven Gonzalez

IRVINE, Calif. – The Grand Canyon women's tennis team opened its season on the road in Irvine, Calif with a matchup against No. 70 in the country, UC Irvine. The Lopes picked up four wins overall throughout the match against the Anteaters but GCU fell short to UCI in a tight 4-3 match.

"It was a bitter-sweet way to start the season for us," head coach Gregory Prudhomme said. "I was really proud of our team's performance. We displayed great effort and had a positive attitude the entire match."

Irvine came away with the doubles point with victories on courts two and three. GCU pulled out a victory on court one from Tatum Prudhomme and Susan Baklini defeating Irvine's Sarah Gong & Mazy Watroud 6-3.

In singles, after dropping the match on court one, the Lopes rattled off wins from courts two, three and four. Alexandra Petrzalkova started the season with an impressive performance in the No. 2 slot with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Watrous. Baklini capped her perfect day with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Vivian Dvali in the three slot to go 2-0 on the day.

Lana Macukat would pick up its final win of the day on court four over Andrea Duva pulling out the 6-4, 6-3 victory.

"It was bitter coming up short against a nationally ranked team," Prudhomme said. "We have been building towards facing teams of this quality and today showed that we have the ability to take a nationally ranked team down."

GCU will wrap up its first weekend of play in California with a matchup against UC Riverside tomorrow with the match beginning at noon.

Results
Singles

Sarah Gong (UCI) def. Tatum Prudhomme (GCU) 7-6 (3), 6-4
Alexandra Petrzalkova (GCU) def. Mazy Watrous (UCI) 6-2, 6-2
Susan Baklini (GCU) def. Vivian Dvali (UCI) 6-3, 6-3
Lana Macukat (GCU) def. Andrea Duva (UCI) 6-4, 6-3
Cassidy Branstine (UCI) def. Lana Rinaldi (GCU) 6-3, 6-2
Catherine Kreslin (UCI) def. Sofia Helgstrand (GCU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3

Doubles

Tatum Prudhomme/Susan Baklini (GCU) def. Sarah Gong/Mazy Watrous (UCI) 6-3
Vivian Dvali/Andrea Duva (UCI) def. Alexandra Petrzalkova/Kylie Waschuk (GCU) 6-4
Cassidy Branstine/Stephanie Hazell (UCI) def. Lana Macukat/Lana Rinaldi (GCU) 6-2