Lopes sweep UTRGV 7-0 in WAC play

Saturday, April 8

Seattle, WA

4 PM

Grand Canyon

UT Rio Grande Valley

4/8/2017 9:55:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Alex Nash

SEATTLE – The GCU men's tennis team earned their second sweep in as many matches on Saturday as they take momentum into the final match of the season tomorrow. The men took down UT Rio Grande Valley 7-0 to improve to 14-10 overall and 3-1 in WAC conference play.

"The men had a very strong win this evening against Texas Rio Grande." Said GCU head coach Greg Prudhomme. "The 7-0 score doesn't show the competitiveness we had on a number of different courts. Rio Grande put up a good fight."

The Lopes jumped out to an early lead in doubles play as the duo of Adrian Legarreta and Phillip Kuehnen won 6-3 while teammates Mathieu Ounanian and Gregoire Balenci followed suit with a 6-3 win for themselves. The freshmen duo of Lorenzo Fucile and Valentin Lang closed out the doubles matches with an impressive 6-0 win securing the point.

"We got off to a great early lead in the dubs" Purdhomme stated. "The guys got on top and stayed on top with the exception of courts 3 and 4, we did go down a set in the singles but the guys did a great job of staying in it and battling back."

Fucile and Legarreta were the ones who battled back after getting down early. On court 3 Fucile battled to earn a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win, while the senior Legarreta snagged another point by winning his match 5-7, 7-5, 10-5 on court 4.

Meanwhile, four other lopes won their matches on the day. Francois Musitelli won 6-4, 6-3 on No. 1 with Mathieu Rajaonah winning 6-1, 6-2 on No. 2. Justin Cvitanovic and Valentin Lang both earned wins on courts 5 and 6 completing the clean sweep.

Purdhomme addressed the strong finish by stating, "Guys are showing really good form. We are certainly looking forward to being able to play the conference tournament at the end of next season because we have been able to get our guys playing at a high level by the end of the season when it really counts."

"We are happy with today's performance, it was a great team effort, everybody looked sharp and they are looking forward to getting out there and trying to finish strong with one last match tomorrow."

The Lopes will compete in their last match of the year tomorrow, April 9, against Seattle U in Seattle as they look to carry their winning ways into next season.

Grand Canyon University 7, UT Rio Grande Valley 0
April 8, 2017 at Seattle, Washington (Amy Yee Tennis Center)

Singles competition

Francois Musitelli (GCU) def. Koby Jansen (UTRGV) 6-4, 6-3
Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) def. Yehonatan Kaufman (UTRGV) 6-1, 6-2
Lorenzo Fucile (GCU) def. Elliot Johnstone (UTRGV) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
Adrian Legarreta (GCU) def. Clément Sarradin (UTRGV) 5-7, 7-5, 10-5
Justin Cvitanovic (GCU) def. Andres Hernandez (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-1
Valentin Lang (GCU) def. Mateo Schmit (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-1

Doubles competition

1. Adrian Legarreta/Philip Kuehnen (GCU) def. Yehonatan Kaufman/Mateo Schmit (UTRGV) 6-3
2. Mathieu Rajaonah/Gregoire Balenci (GCU) def. Elliot Johnstone/Andres Hernandez (UTRGV) 6-3
3. Lorenzo Fucile/Valentin Lang (GCU) def. Koby Jansen/Clement Sarradin (UTRGV) 6-0