Schueller clinches victory for the Lopes

Thursday, February 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Nevada

Photo by: Darryl Webb

2/18/2016 4:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX – The GCU men's tennis team came from behind to defeat the Nevada Wolfpack on Thursday, Feb. 18 at Paseo Racquet Center. After dropping two matches in doubles play, the Lopes rallied to take the next four singles matches and win the contest 4-1.

"I'm very proud of the guys today," head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "Nevada is a team that has beat us in each of the last two years and is constantly in-and-out of the national rankings. We had to fight hard."

Grand Canyon dropped the first two doubles matches of the day and found itself in a 1-0 deficit entering singles play. Fortunately, Justin Cvitanovic made quick work of his opponent at No. 6 singles and Mathieu Rajaonah won his match at No. 4 only moments later to put the Lopes up 2-1.

Alexander Roggenkamp battled at No. 3, eventually winning a tiebreaker in the second set to finish the match and earn another point for GCU. The Lopes needed one more point to clinch the match as they had three more players still in contention.

Senior Felix Scheuller faced Mile Cilic at No. 2 singles. Cilic is the the younger brother of Marin Cilic, the No. 13 men's tennis player in the world. After dropping the first set, Scheuller fought back to take sets two and three, both by scores of 6-3. His victory clinched the match for the Lopes.

"Felix is the captain of the team so it's only fitting that he had to come from a set behind," Prudhomme added. "He was losing for the better part of the match, and he just stayed strong mentally, kept cheering on his teammates, and made some tactical adjustments. Thanks to our administration, sports medicine, and strength training, he was able to stay strong and finish the match."

GCU improves to 5-4 with the win and will next face Montana at home on Friday, Feb. 26. The match will be held at the Paseo Racquet Center at 5 p.m.

Results
Doubles
No. 1: Felix Schueller/Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) vs. Robert Allan/Aaron Breust (NVU) DNF
No. 2: Mile Cilic/Peter O'Donovan (NVU) def. Mathieu Rajaonah/Adrian Legarreta (GCU) 6-4
No. 3: Ryan Andrada/Robert Marjitfalvi (NVU) def. Mitch Maroscher/Meidy Chazeau (GCU) 6-2

Singles
No. 1: Mitch Maroscher (GCU) vs. Ryan Andrada (NVU) 6-4, 6-7, DNF
No. 2: Felix Schueller (GCU) def. Mile Cilic (NVU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3: Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) def. Peter O'Donovan (NVU) 6-2, 7-6 (3)
No. 4: Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) def. Robert Allan (NVU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 5: Adrian Legarreta (GCU) vs. Robert Marjitfalvi (NVU) 6-0, 6-7, 5-3, DNF
No. 6: Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) def. Aaron Breust (NVU) 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 3, 2*