GCU drops close home match

Saturday, January 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

3:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

UC Riverside

Photo by: Tyler Casey

1/18/2020 6:40:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Doubles point proves to be difference in 4-3 loss

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon men's tennis team opened the home schedule with a close 4-3 home loss to UC Riverside on Saturday.

The Highlanders (3-0) took the doubles point and three singles matches to edge the Lopes (0-4).

In doubles, GCU saw senior Valentin Lang and freshman Can Franke won 6-1 at the top spot after the Highlanders won 6-1 at No. 3. The point came down to junior Freddie Grant and freshman Julian Mueller for the Lopes at No. 2, where they dug a 4-1 hole and lost 6-2.

Despite the 1-0 deficit heading into singles, the Lopes came out strong by winning three first sets. After a straight-set loss at No. 2, freshman David Weber at No. 5 and Lang at No. 1 responded with wins to tie the team score at 2-2. It was Lang's first career start at No. 1 and the senior from Mulhouse, France, won easily 6-4, 6-0.

Tied at 2-2 with three matches ongoin,g the Lopes needed two wins to clinch a team victory. After being up 4-1 early in his second set, Franke was pushed to tiebreakers where he lost the set and the match 4-6, 6-7 (1-7) to give UC Riverside the 3-2 edge. Moments later, Riverside's Daniel Velek beat Mueller in straight sets to clinch the third straight win for the Highlanders.

Lopes sophomore Maxim Kirsch recorded his first singles victory of the season a few minutes later, winning 6-3, 7-5 after starting the second set down 0-3.

The Lopes will hit the road for the next three matches, starting next week with a trip to the Pacific Northwest for a match at Washington and a neutral-site match against Cal Poly in Seattle.