GCU battled tough competition at the Aztec Invite

Friday, October 6

San Diego, Calif.

Grand Canyon

SDSU Aztec Invite

10/9/2017 5:30:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Jerob Moon

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—The GCU men's tennis team competed in the Aztec Invitational hosted by San Diego State over the weekend, and the Lopes performed well in their second tournament of the fall season.

"The guys had some great battles this weekend at San Diego State," head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "It was great to see how well our guys could battle against good players this early in the season. If we keep working hard in practice and competing hard like we've been doing, we'll continue to see success on the court."

Sophomores Lorenzo Fucile and Valentin Lang had strong showings in the top flight of the singles tournament. Both advanced to the quarterfinals, Fucile beating both Kirchoff and Popov of San Diego State, 7-5, 7-5, and 6-3, 7-6 (3). Lang had two tough three set matches to get to the quarters. Lang defeated Tseng of UC San Diego 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, and then Andersen of SDSU 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (2) in a match that lasted over three hours.

Justin Cvitanovic won a match in the top flight singles, and Lucas Grego and Mathieu Rajaonah each won a match in the Flight 1 singles consolation bracket.

In Singles Flight 2, Freddie Grant and Gregoire Balenci each picked up wins in the first round. Grant defeated Ruh of UC San Diego in straight sets and Balenci defeated Bruce Man Son of UC Irvine 6-2, 6-3.

In doubles, Leo Andreolli and Justin Cvitanovic took third place in Flight 2. After a tough 6-4 loss in the semifinals, Andreolli and Cvitanovic regrouped and beat Ermert/Ruh of UC San Diego 6-4 to take third place. In Flight 1, Valentin Lang and Lucas Grego reached the quarterfinals with a 6-2 win over Poynter/Castano of Liberty.

The team will enjoy next weekend off as they prepare for the ITA Southwest Regional in two weeks on Oct. 19-22. The men's team will play at Pepperdine University throughout the weekend.