Dominance nets 1st GCU win

Sunday, February 23

Waco, Texas

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Omaha

Photo by: Elizabeth Tinajero

2/23/2020 6:38:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Upperclassmen shine in 6-1 win

By: Jerob Moon

WACO, Texas—The Grand Canyon men's tennis team picked up its first win this season by taking down Omaha 6-1 in a Sunday neutral-site match at Baylor.

The Lopes (1-11) were dominant, winning the doubles point and taking five of the six singles matches against the Mavericks.

"The guys showed a lot of heart today," GCU head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "This weekend here at Baylor was unfortunately, but fortunately, the first weekend we've had the lineup we expected to have coming into this season. We've dealt with a lot of injuries and illness up to this point and we still aren't 100%. But we are much closer and the guys showed it."

In doubles, the Lopes took the point easily, winning at the top two positions. At GCU's No. 1 spot, senior Lorenzo Fucile and freshman Can Franke got back to their winning ways with a 6-3 victory, while senior duo Valentin Lang and Justin Cvitanovic won 6-3 at No. 2 in just their second match together this year. The Mavericks (3-6) won 6-4 at No. 3 against junior Freddie Grant and freshman Julian Mueller.

"It was the first time we had this lineup with upperclassmen on all three courts," Prudhomme said. "Lorezno and Can did a good job getting a win today at No. 1, two seniors at No. 2 got the win with a junior at No. 3."

In singles, the Lopes were in top form, winning on five courts. Fucile started things with an easy 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 1. Omaha rallied for a win at No. 6 but Weber rebounded well after dropping the second set, and earned the Lopes a point at No. 5 in three sets.

The lineup's three remaining upperclassmen closed out singles wins. Cvitanovic, who has worked all the way back from an ACL tear in January of 2019, won in straight sets at No. 4. Grant. at No. 3, and Lang. at No. 2, each outlasted opponents in tiebreakers in the second sets to win and give the Lopes a much-needed 6-1 victory.

The Lopes will continue to heal and prepare for the final nonconference run that will resume in mid-March with GCU heading to Albuquerque for matches against New Mexico and Denver on March 13 and 14, respectively.