Lopes head to Hawaii for 2

HONOLULU—The Grand Canyon men's tennis team will play in Hawaii for the first time since 2013 this weekend with a pair of matches against Hawaii (4-7) and Oral Roberts (2-6).

The last time GCU played in the Aloha State was for the PacWest championships back in the Division II era in 2013 where the Lopes took third place with a win over Azusa Pacific.

Fast forward six years and the Lopes (8-5) will be using this weekend's trip as one final tune-up before WAC play begins on March 29 in Las Cruces against Kansas City.
Last time out the Lopes lost at home earlier this week against Liberty 5-2 after a five-hour rain delay. The Flames jumped out early and took the doubles point, and won the match with wins at the top three singles position.

Senior Lucas Grego picked up his 11th singles win of the season at No. 4 and was named the WAC Singles Player of the Week while freshman Jakub Novak won at No. 6. The top doubles pair of Mathieu Rajaonah and Lorenzo Fucile lost their first match of the season and now sit at 9-1.

Hawaii is coming off of an appearance in the Golden State Invitational on March 8-9. The Rainbow Warriors picked up a 4-3 win over Sacramento State before falling to Fresno State 4-0.

Oral Roberts last played on March 10, a 4-0 loss at Oklahoma State. The Golden Eagles also played WAC opponent Kansas City early this season losing 4-0 at home.

The Lopes are 0-9 all-time against Hawaii with the first meeting taking place in Phoenix in 1979 and the most recent match in 2015 in Stockton, Calif. This will be the first time the Lopes play at Hawaii since a pair of matches in 1981. GCU and Oral Roberts will meet for the first time.

The match against Hawaii will begin at 6 p.m. Phoenix time on Saturday and the match against Oral Roberts will be played at 3 p.m. Phoenix time on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

Lorenzo Fucile

Lucas Grego

Jakub Novak

Mathieu Rajaonah

Grand Canyon University Athletics