Lopes drop a close one to New Mexico State, fall 4-3

Friday, March 24

Phoenix, AZ

3 PM

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

3/24/2017 6:35:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX – The GCU men's tennis dropped a close match Friday evening to WAC rival New Mexico State. The Lopes split singles matches with the Aggies but dropped the doubles point, losing by a score of 4-3. Grand Canyon falls to 11-10 overall and 0-1 in WAC play.

"It's the fourth time we've played New Mexico State and it's the fourth time that the match was decided by a one point difference," head coach Greg Prudhomme stated. "Needless to say, the teams are very close in ability and whoever plays the big points the best is going to get the job done. Although I'm proud of the guys and they fought really well, there were a few courts where we didn't play the big points as well as we could and that definetly could have made the difference."

In doubles play, New Mexico State won two of three matches to take the point. On Courts 1 and 2, both GCU pairs fell by scores of 6-4. At No. 3, the freshman duo of Valentin Lang and Lorenzo Fucile earned the Lopes only win as they outscored the Aggie pair 6-3.

Even numbered courts were good to the Lopes as GCU earned singles wins on Courts 2, 4, and 6 during the contest. On Court 2, Mathieu Rajaonah had a decisive victory over Flores, winning 6-0, 6-4. Fucile also won a quick match at No. 4. He defeated Espias 6-2, 6-1 to score another point for GCU. On Court 6, Lang used a tiebreaker to take down Benitez, winning 6-4, 4-6, 10-0.

"It was great to see wins coming from two of our freshman [Lang and Fucile] in the starting six," Prudhomme added. "Raj showed great form at No. 2. We have a lot of guys looking good at the right time in the season, it's just too bad this one slipped away."

"These guys are going to bounce back as we've got a really tough one tomorrow," Prudhomme said. "We're in the hunt to try to finish in the top of the WAC. It's important that we show their resilience, which I believe we have a lot of."

Next up, GCU will face another WAC opponent in Missouri-Kansas City tomorrow at 4 p.m. The Lopes will also take on Chicago State on Sunday at 9 a.m. Senior Day will be celebrated at the Chicago State match.

New Mexico State 4, Grand Canyon University 3
Mar 24, 2017 at Phoenix, Ariz. (GCU Tennis Facility)

Singles competition
1. Goncalves, Chris (NMSU) def. Francois Musitelli (GCU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) def. Flores, Luis Pliego (NMSU) 6-0, 6-4
3. de Haan, Stijn (NMSU) def. Adrian Legarreta (GCU) 7-6, 6-2
4. Lorenzo Fucile (GCU) def. Espias, Sergi (NMSU) 6-2, 6-1
5. Asmar, Enrique (NMSU) def. Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Valentin Lang (GCU) def. Benitez, Mauri (NMSU) 6-4, 4-6, 10-0

Doubles competition
1. Goncalves, Chris/Flores, Luis Pliego (NMSU) def. Adrian Legarreta/Philip Kuehnen (GCU) 6-4
2. de Haan, Stijn/Benitez, Mauri (NMSU) def. Mathieu Ounanian/Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) 6-4
3. Lorenzo Fucile/Valentin Lang (GCU) def. Asmar, Enrique/Espias, Sergi (NMSU) 6-3

Match Notes
New Mexico State 10-5
Grand Canyon University 11-10