Lopes lock up semifinal spots

Friday, April 27

Mesa Tennis Center / Mesa, Ariz.

9:00 A.M.

Grand Canyon

Chicago State

4/27/2018 7:21:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Jerob Moon

MESA, Ariz.—Both Grand Canyon tennis teams clinched semifinal berths in their first ever WAC Tennis Conference Tournament on Friday. The women's team defeated Chicago State 4-1, and the men a few hours later shutout the Cougars themselves winning 4-0. The fourth-seeded women will face off against the regular season champs UTRGV at 9 a.m. tomorrow while the third-seeded men will play New Mexico State at 1 p.m.

"It was a great day for GCU tennis," head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "Playing in our first postseason tournament ever you never know what kind of nerves will be involved. We were definitely the favorties with both the men and women going into Chicago State but I was real happy with how the team played. Chicago State's gotten better over the years, but it was great to see both teams take care of business, especially the girls after they dropped the doubles point, they came back on a mission and played some real clean matches on No. 1-4."

The women began the day at the Mesa Tennis Center a little shaky after losing the doubles point to the Cougars. Lana Rinaldi and Emilia Occhipinti started the Lopes off with a dominate 6-1 win, but the Cougars responded with a 6-4 win at No. 2 and 6-2 win at No. 3 to take the early 1-0 lead.

Despite the deficit the Lopes regrouped in singles and came storming back winning the top four matches. Freshman Martina Lo Pumo in her first ever postseason match won decisively at court three 6-1, 6-1. Emilia Occhipinti playing right next to Lo Pumo on court two followed suit winning 6-0, 6-2 to give the Lopes a 2-1 lead.

With the clinch format in effect, GCU only needed two more points to clinch the match. Celina Buhr provided the third point with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4, and senior Lana Rinaldi playing in front of a sizeable at No. 1 gave the Lopes their first WAC tennis postseason win in school history. Rinaldi was in control the entire match winning 6-3 in the first set and then finishing it off with a 6-4 second set win. Valentina Mokrova and Kylie Waschuk's matches were stopped, Mokrova had taken the first set and Waschuk was battling back after dropping her first set.

The men took the same courts an hour later and faced the Cougars in the second match of the day on the men's side. With the Cougars short two players the Lopes won the No. 3 doubles by default and with quick 6-2 win by Valentin Lang and Gregoire Balenci at No. 2 they clinched the doubles point with ease. Mathieu Rajaonah and Lorenzo Fucile's match was stopped with the pair leading 4-3.

In singles, the Lopes automatically jumped out to a 2-0 lead winning by default at No. 6 because Chicago State did not have a player listed. GCU provided the two other wins quickly as Lucas Grego won at No. 5 in straight sets and Fucile won 6-1, 6-0 to move the Lopes to the semifinals in a quick hour and 25 minute match.

Also with the win over Chicago State, the men's team set a new Division I school record with their 16^th win, breaking the old mark of 15 that was set last season.

"That's definitely a good way to start the weekend and the tournament, so we are certainly happy to set that first milestone of getting the win and getting into the semis," Prudhomme added. "But we've got more work to do, and same goes for the men. They made quick work, and did a really good job staying focused and getting quick wins in the doubles and the singles so they didn't have to use too much energy, good way to get their feet wet in this tournament."

The Lopes now turn their attention to the semifinals and the tough matches that will come with it. On the women's side the No. 4 seeded Lopes (8-14) will face the regular season champs, No. 1 UTRGV (13-8). The Vaqueros defeated the Lopes 5-2 earlier in April in route to a 5-0 record in the WAC.

The No. 3 seeded men's team (16-6) will face off against their rival No. 2 seeded New Mexico State (14-8). The Aggies defeated the Lopes 6-1 in the final WAC cluster of the regular season and earned the final first round bye by clinching the second seed.