No. 5 Duke wins in GCU home debut

Tuesday, January 14

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Duke

1/14/2020 4:28:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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Lopes fall to 2019 Final Four team in 'great experience'

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon women's tennis team opened the season by hosting No. 5 Duke in a 7-0 loss at a packed GCU Tennis Facility.

"It was a great experience today for the women," GCU head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "We were certainly an underdog going into the match, playing a team that was in the Final Four last season. This was one of the strongest teams we ever played, but I was proud of our girls. They were out there fighting for every point, every game. We were able to get games on the board, not matches but it was definitely a good experience."

Duke controlled most of the match and took an early lead in doubles, winning on all three courts. Blue Devils freshman Natasha Puehse and sophomore Jana Weiss played their first matches in a GCU uniform and were paired for a 6-2 loss at No. 2 doubles. The Blue Devils clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win over new doubles pair Autum Prudhomme and Ludovica Infantino at No. 3.

Duke extended its lead in singles, winning quickly on the bottom two courts 6-0, 6-0. Meible Chi of Duke clinched the dual match win with a straight-set win at No. 4, while both Buhr and Puehse won two games eachin the second sets of their singles matches at Nos. 2 and 3.

The Lopes faced four nationally ranked players in singles, including No. 10 Kelly Chen and No. 25 Chloe Beck at the top two positions.

"We're not going to see teams at Duke's level pretty much for the rest of the season," Prudhomme said. "I think the girls will get some momentum from having seen the faster and stronger pace on the ball. They will be able apply that moving forward and should get some confidence moving into the next matches."

The Lopes will head to the Titan Invitational this weekend at Cal State Fullerton. The Friday-Sunday tournament will not have team scores.