GCU knocks off defending WAC Champ, NMSU

Saturday, March 26

Las Cruces, NM

9 a.m.

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

3/26/2016 2:07:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Steven Gonzalez

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Grand Canyon men's tennis team went into the weekend picked as the favorites in the Western Athletic Conference and head coach Greg Prudhomme's squad performed like the best team in the WAC. GCU capped off a perfect 3-0 weekend in the WAC on the road with a 4-3 win over the defending WAC champion New Mexico State.

"It is hard to put into words the excitement and emotion that went into today's victory over New Mexico State," Prudhomme said. "All eight guys that played put every ounce of physical and mental energy that they had into this match and it got us across the finish line."

The Lopes have tried to find the right combination all season in doubles and when the Lopes needed a doubles point, they delivered with two key victories. Adrian Legarreta and Gregoire Balenci capped off a perfect 3-0 weekend on Court 3 in doubles with a 6-2 win, giving GCU the 1-0 lead. After NM State took the match on Court 2, it came down to Felix Schueller and Alexander Roggenkamp on Court 1 against Strahinja Trecakov and Christofer Goncalves. When the Lopes needed their top duo to step up, Schueller and Roggenkamp delivered with a 6-3 win, clinching the doubles point for GCU.

After the doubles point, NM State fired back with wins on the top three courts, leaving it up to the young guns of GCU to pull through for the win. The Aggies won three of the first four matches that finished in singles play. After Meidy Chazeau came away with the 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 win on Court 5 GCU held a 2-1 lead over NMSU but the Aggies responded with wins on Courts 2 and 1 to take the 3-2 with two matches left.

With all the pressure on the Lopes, two freshman took the court for GCU and they came up clutch with two big wins. First, Mathieu Rajaonah found himself in a tough three-set match on Court 4 against Stijn de Haan and Rajaonah had to fight back down 6-4 in the first set. Rajaonah rallied to take the final two sets 7-6, 6-4 to keep GCU's hope alive, tying the match at 3-3.

In the last match of the day it came down to the last match in the order, Court 6, between GCU's Justin Cvitanovic and NM State's Enrique Asmar. Cvitanovic started off strong with a 6-4 victory in the first set and came close to clinching the match in the second set but Asmar forced a third set after a 7-6 victory. With the match on the line, Cvitanovic delivered a 7-5 victory, clinching the match for GCU.

"The fact that Justin had to battle down 4-1 makes the victory that much sweeter," Prudhomme said. "It shows the heart and mental toughness our team has. They displayed attitude and effort all throughout the match but there is more work left to be done to finish the season strong."

Results
Singles
1. Strahinja Trecakov (NMSU) def. Mitch Maroscher (GCU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. Christofer Goncalves (NMSU) def. Felix Schueller (GCU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Liam Goldberg (NMSU) def. Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) 6-1, 6-3
4. Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) def. Stijn de Haan (NMSU) 4-6, 7-6, 6-4
5. Meidy Chazeau (GCU) def. Mauri Benitez (NMSU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) def. Enrique Asmar (NMSU) 6-4, 6-7, 7-5
Doubles
1. Felix Schueller/Alexander Roggenkamp (GCU) def. Strahinja Trecakov/Christofer Goncalves (NMSU) 6-3
2. Liam Goldberg/Stijn de Haan (NMSU) def. Mitch Maroscher/Meidy Chazeau (GCU) 6-4
3. Adrian Legarreta/Gregoire Balenci (GCU) def. Mauri Benitez/Enrique Asmar (NMSU) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,5,2,1,4,6)