GCU splits home matches with UC Riverside and Idaho

Wednesday, March 15

Phoenix, AZ

10 AM

Grand Canyon

UC Riverside

3/15/2017 8:06:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX– In preparation for WAC play next weekend, the GCU men's tennis team hosted a doubleheader on Wednesday. In the first contest against UC Riverside, the Lopes were victorious by a 5-1 score. Grand Canyon later fell to Idaho by a score of 2-4 in the second matchup. GCU's record moves to 10-9 for the season.

"The guys had a long day of tennis today, playing a doubleheader," GCU head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "We scheduled this doubleheader to get them a lot match time on their home court to get them ready for the upcoming conference matches at home. We got exactly what we were hoping for, expect for getting two wins."

Against UC Riverside, the Lopes came out strong in doubles play. Two GCU pairs, Adrian Legarreta and Philip Kuehnen, and Lorenzo Fucile and Valentin Lang, both won quick matches to give the Lopes the early 1-0 advantage.

Fucile earned the first singles victory of the day, at No. 3, and was followed closely behind by Lang at No. 4 and Justin Cvitanovic at No. 5. Cvitanovic's 6-4, 6-2 win clinched the team victory for GCU. Francois Musitelli battled on to win a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 match at No. 1, rounding out the GCU victors.

Doubles play was again strong for the Lopes in the second contest versus Idaho. Fucile and Lang earned another quick victory at No. 3 and the pair of Gregoire Balenci and Mathieu Ounanian clinched the point with a 6-2 win at No. 2. GCU jumped out to another 1-0 lead.

Singles play with Idaho was extremely competitive and multiple matches went into tiebreakers and extra sets. Cvitanovic was the only Lope able to pull out a victory. He defeated Coutinho of Idaho 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 to earn another point for GCU.

"We got the doubles point in both matches, and that's great," praised Prudhomme. "We've been working hard on our doubles so it was nice to see the improvement there. We were running out of a little bit of energy at the end, but we kept fighting until the last point and almost pulled through."

The Lopes will rest for the weekend before facing Montana on Monday, March 20 at home. GCU will then host three consecutive WAC matches next weekend from March 24-26. Grand Canyon will compete against New Mexico State on Friday, Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday, and Chicago State on Sunday.

"Although we were a little disappointed that we weren't able to pull out the second win today," Prudhomme said. "We think we got a lot of value out of the long day and it's going to help us get ready for our next round of matches."

Grand Canyon University 5, UC Riverside 1
Mar 15, 2017 at Phoenix, Ariz. (GCU Tennis Facility)

Singles competition
1. Francois Musitelli (GCU) def. Cooper Bridge (UCR) 4-6, 6-4, 10-8
2. Adrian Legarreta (GCU) vs. Kyle McCann (UCR) 7-6, 2-1
3. Lorenzo Fucile (GCU) def. Tadeas Lansky (UCR) 6-3, 6-0
4. Valentin Lang (GCU) def. Nabil Abdallah (UCR) 6-2, 6-1
5. Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) def. Gilbert Chung (UCR) 6-4, 6-2
6. Anderson Ju (UCR) def. Mathieu Ounanian (GCU) 6-4, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. Adrian Legarreta/Philip Kuehnen (GCU) def. Nabil Abdallah/Tadeas Lansky (UCR) 6-1
2. Cooper Bridge/Anderson Ju (UCR) def. Gregoire Balenci/Mathieu Ounanian (GCU) 6-4
3. Lorenzo Fucile/Valentin Lang (GCU) def. Kyle McCann/Max Cohen (UCR) 6-4

Match Notes
UC Riverside 8-9
Grand Canyon University 10-8
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3,4,5,6,1)

Idaho 4, Grand Canyon University 2
Mar 15, 2017 at Phoenix, Ariz.

Singles competition
1. Mark Kovacs (IDH) def. Francois Musitelli (GCU) 7-6 (1-0), 7-6 (4-0)
2. Felipe Fonseca (IDH) def. Adrian Legarreta (GCU) 6-7 (0-7), 6-1, 6-0
3. Carlos Longhi Neto (IDH) vs. Lorenzo Fucile (GCU) no result
4. Esteban Santibanez (IDH) def. Valentin Lang (GCU) 5-7, 6-1, 6-1
5. Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) def. Lucas Coutinho (IDH) 6-4, 6-4
6. Guilherme Scarpelli (IDH) def. Gregoire Balenci (GCU) 6-2, 7-6

Doubles competition
1. Adrian Legarreta/Philip Kuehnen (GCU) def. Mark Kovacs/Carlos Longhi Neto (IDH) 5-2
2. Gregoire Balenci/Mathieu Ounanian (GCU) def. Lucas Coutinho/Esteban Santibanez (IDH) 6-2
3. Lorenzo Fucile/Valentin Lang (GCU) def. Felipe Fonseca/Guilherme Scarpelli (IDH) 6-2

Match Notes
Idaho 8-4
Grand Canyon University 10-9