GCU goes 1-1 at Mountain Pacific Invitational

Friday, March 11

Albuquerque, N.M.

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Santa Clara

3/11/2016 5:16:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Steven Gonzalez

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Grand Canyon men's tennis team began the first day of the second annual Mountain Pacific Invitational, co-hosted by New Mexico and Pacific. The Lopes began the invitational with a matchup against Santa Clara and New Mexico and after dropping the doubles point, the Lopes rallied to take down the Broncos 4-3 for its fourth straight win. GCU closed out the day with a 4-0 loss to No. 63 New Mexico. GCU is now 8-5 this season.

"We did a great job today, once again getting the job done in singles after dropping the doubles point," assistant coach Amit Maharaj said. "We fought hard on all six courts with some big wins from behind."

The Lopes started the match against Santa Clara with the first win of the day on Court 3 in doubles. Mitch Maroscher and Meidy Chazeau pulled out the 6-2 victory but on Courts 1 and 2 GCU fell as Santa Clara took the 1-0 lead.

In the previous three wins GCU has recorded, it had to fight from behind after dropping the doubles point and it was no different against the Broncos, pulling out four clutch wins in singles. After Santa Clara took a 2-0 lead, Justin Cvitanovic got GCU on the board with a win on Court 6 defeating Sebastien Mathieu. Cvitanovic put on an impressive performance, controlling the match from start-to-finish with the 6-2, 6-0 victory. Mathiew Rajaonah followed Cvitanovic's lead with a win on Court 4, taking down Connor Garnett 6-4, 6-5 to tie the match at 2-2.

"Our newcomers (Cvitanovic and Rajaonah) showed solid performances once again," Maharaj said. "They competed with great attitude and effort in order to help deliver the win."

Felix Schueller gave the Lopes the 3-2 lead, defeating Andrew Gu on Court 2. After a tight 7-5 first set in favor of GCU, Schueller left no doubt in the second set with a 6-3 victory, giving GCU the lead. After a Robert Seby victory on Court 3 for the Broncos, it was all up to Chazeau against Kamran Khan on Court 5. Khan dominated the first 6-2 but Chazeau rallied in the final two sets, to turn the corner and defeated Khan 7-6, 7-5 for the 4-3 win over Santa Clara.

After advancing to the semifinals, the Lopes dropped a 4-0 match to the Lobos, with no doubles play taking place. The Lopes will face Utah State in the third place matchup Saturday to wrap up the Mountain Pacific Invitational.

GCU vs. Santa Clara Results
Singles
1. Khacharyan, Ashot (SC) def. Mitch Maroscher (GCU) 6-1, 6-3
2. Felix Schueller (GCU) def. Gu, Andrew (SC) 7-5, 6-3
3. Seby, Robert (SC) def. Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) 7-6, 7-5
4. Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) def. Garnett, Connor (SC) 6-4, 6-5
5. Meidy Chazeau (GCU) def. Khan, Kamran (SC) 2-6, 7-6, 7-5
6. Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) def. Mathieu, Sebastien (SC) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
1. Khacharyan, Ashot/Gu, Andrew (SC) def. Felix Schueller/Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) 7-6
2. Garnett, Connor/Seby, Robert (SC) def. Mathieu Rajaonah/Adrian Legarreta (GCU) 6-3
3. Mitch Maroscher/Meidy Chazeau (GCU) def. Khan, Kamran/Liang, Jeffrey (SC) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,6,4,2,3,5)

New Mexico vs. GCU Results
Singles
1. Hayden Sabatka (NM) def. Mitch Maroscher (GCU) 7-5, 6-0
2. Bart Van Leijsen (NM) def. Felix Schueller (GCU) 6-2, 6-4
3. Jorge Escutia (NM) def. Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Ricky Hernandez-Tong (NM) vs. Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) 6-2, 4-6, 0-3, unfinished
5. Agustus Ge (NM) def. Meidy Chazeau (GCU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Sean Baklini (NM) vs. Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) 3-6, 4-5, unfinished
Doubles
1. Felix Schueller/Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) vs. Hayden Sabatka/Bart Van Leijsen (NM) no result
2. Adrian Legarreta/Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) vs. Agustus Ge/Rodolfo Jauregui (NM) no result
3. Meidy Chazeau/Mitch Maroscher (GCU) vs. Jorge Escutia/Ricky Hernandez-Tong (NM) no result
Order of finish: Doubles (); Singles (1,3,2,5)