Lopes come up short against No. 22 Baylor

Saturday, January 21

Waco, TX

5 PM

Grand Canyon

Baylor

1/21/2017 10:57:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Samantha Fell

WACO, Texas – The GCU men's tennis program battled with another nationally ranked team on Saturday afternoon. The Lopes fell to the No. 22 Baylor Bears 7-0 and now have a record of 0-2. Grand Canyon has started its 2017 campaign with one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

"The guys put us a great fight today," assistant coach Amit Maharaj said. "On paper, the score doesn't reflect the energy and high level of competition that the guys played."

Leading GCU was sophomore Mathieu Rajaonah who challenged Benitez at No. 1 singles by extending the second set and eventually falling 6-3, 7-6. Freshman Lorenzo Fucile also battled with Baylor's Bendeck and fell just short by scores of 7-5, 6-3.

"We had some close second sets that could have gone our way to extend the match," Maharaj added. "Our guys are young and they are learning how to deal with the atmosphere and emotions when playing on the road. We will take what we learned today and apply it to tomorrow's match against Incarnate Word."

GCU will play one more match in Waco tomorrow at 10 a.m. against Incarnate Word. The Lopes hit the road again next weekend for two contests in Colorado against Northern Colorado and Air Force.

#22 Baylor 7, Grand Canyon University 0

Singles competition
1. Benitez (BU) def. Rajaonah (GCU) 6-3, 7-6
2. Tehovtakian (BU) def. Musitelli (GCU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Schretter (BU) def. Legarreta (GCU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Bendeck (BU) def. Fucile (GCU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Petersen (BU) def. Cvitanovic (GCU) 6-2, 6-2
6. Frantzen (BU) def. Balenci (GCU) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Tehovtakian/Benitez (BU) def. Kuehnen/Legarreta (GCU) 6-2
2. Petersen/Frantzen (BU) def. Musitelli/Rajaonah (GCU) 6-1
3. Bendeck/Schretter (BU) def. Fucile/Lang (GCU) 6-2