Cvitanovic puts GCU in final

Saturday, March 10

Davis, Calif.

3:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

UC Davis

Photo by: Travis Neely

3/11/2018 12:17:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Lopes play for Golden State Invite championship tomorrow

By: Jerob Moon

DAVIS, Calif.—For the second straight week GCU will play for a championship, this week in the Golden State Invite. The Lopes defeated UC Davis 4-3 in the semifinal and will head to the final tomorrow.

"Guys had a great win today" head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "For the second weekend in a row Justin (Cvitanovic) clinched the deciding match in the semifinals to put the guys into the finals. Great for the men to be in their second final in a row, today they showed a lot of resilience."

GCU rebounded well from the losing the doubles point yesterday against Nevada by taking the doubles today. Mathieu Rajaonah and Lorenzo Fucile at No. 1 kicked things off with a 6-3 win, and Lucas Grego and Freddie Grant clinced the point with a tiebreaker win at No. 3.

With the early 1-0 lead in hand, the Lopes turned their attention to singles. Grego extended his winning streak to five with another straight set win at No. 4 and extended the GCU lead to 2-0.

The Aggies responded with two straight wins at No. 6 over Grant and Lang in straight sets. GCU then regained the lead with Fucile's hard fought win 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 2. UC Davis tied the match up at three with an upset at No. 1, Rajaonah was defeated in three sets 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.

The semifinal match came down to the final match with Justin Cvitanovic at No. 5. UC Davis gained the early lead taking the first set 4-6, but Cvitanovic responded winning the next two sets 7-5, 6-4 to take the match and give the win to the Lopes. It was the second straight weekend Cvitanovic won the clinching match to send GCU to the finals, last weekend he clinched the final match against Brown in the Mountain Pacific Invite.

The Lopes' lineup is showing consistency throughout and the ability to win at every position. GCU will need more of the same in tomorrow's championship match against UT Arlington. The Mavericks boast a 9-5 record and defeated Saint Mary's and Hawii to reach the final. The match will be played at Sacramento State and will begin at 12 p.m. (MST).