Lopes win 3rd in a row

Friday, February 8

Nashville, Tenn.

3 P.M.

Grand Canyon

Belmont

2/8/2019 7:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Back end of singles lineup proves clutch to beat Belmont

By: Jerob Moon

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —The Grand Canyon men's tennis team won its third straight match on Friday, defeating Belmont 5-2 on the road.

Despite the top two players in singles dropping matches, the bottom half of the singles lineup carried the Lopes to a win.

"The men had a great match tonight," GCU head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "Doubles started off tough. We were actually down at Nos. 2 and 3 and we got an early lead on No. 1. But everybody stuck with it. They had good teamwork, energy and attitudes and got the win in all three courts."

For the third straight match, the GCU (4-1) took the doubles point by sweeping the three matches. Lucas Grego and Freddie Grant won first at No. 3, 6-3, and the top pair of Lorenzo Fucile and Mathieu Rajaonah improved to 5-0 on the season, clinching the doubles point with a 6-3 win. Valentin Lang and Jakub Novak also won 6-4 at No. 2.

In singles, the Lopes saw the top two singles players drop matches for the first time since Jan. 20 at Arizona. Fucile and Rajaonah each lost in straight sets as the Bruins (4-4) came back, but GCU showed its depth in the final four matches.

Lang won at No. 3 in dominating fashion 6-0, 6-1, while Grego stayed perfect on the year at No. 4, winning his fifth match in a row to give the Lopes a 3-2 lead. Grant, a sophomore from England, moved up in the lineup after an injury to Justin Cvitanovic in the previous homestand and clinched the team win with a straight-set victory at No. 5. Novak closed out the team win, taking a hard-fought match 6-4, 6-7, 10-3 (tiebreaker), for his second win in a row.

"We had the lead with the doubles point after splitting the first four matches, but we needed to finish," Prudhomme added. "We had two of our younger guys out there and it was great to see them get the job done with the match on the line. They both won close first sets and Freddie was the first to finish. Jakub had to win his in a 10-point tiebreaker in the third set. Overall, it was a good match for the guys and a good team effort."

The team will have a quick turnaround and end the road trip at Lipscomb on Saturday at 4 p.m. (Phoenix time).