ITA Regionals prove successful for Lopes

Thursday, October 21

San Diego, Calif.

Grand Canyon

ITA Southwest Regional

10/25/2021 5:15:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis

Men's, women's teams pick up wins at annual regional event

By: Jerob Moon

Both Grand Canyon tennis teams were in action over the weekend at the ITA Southwest Regional in California.

The men competed at Pepperdine while the women were at San Diego with both teams playing in a 128-player singles draw and 64-pair doubles draw.

The Lopes men picked up a pair of wins in the main draw. Junior Mariano Argote defeated Hawaii's Blaze Seric in three sets while sophomore Jiri Novak won 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 against Zach Emert of UC San Diego.

In the consolation singles draw, GCU sophomore Loic Van Zeggelaar went on a run to the quarterfinals with a straight-set win over Hawaii's Cody Castro. Fifth-year Freddie Grant also won in the round of 64, defeating UCSD's Tristian Taylor 6-1, 6-7, 10-5 tiebreaker.

In doubles, GCU dropped three matches in the round of 64.

For the women, a pair of Lopes picked up wins in the main singles draw. Junior Natasha Puehse defeated Loyola Marymount's Vanesa Nikolovova in three sets. The Scottsdale, Arizona, native won the third-set tiebreaker 14-12 after splitting the first two sets 1-6, 6-3. Sophomore Aline Buhr also won easily in the first round, defeating Megan Masonhing of UC Irvine 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles, Puehse and teammate Santa Strombacha defeated Arizona's Parker Fry and Lexi Ryngler 7-5 in the first round.

The women will enjoy the next couple weeks off before their final fall event in November while the men head back west for the Southern California Intercollegiates, hosted by USC from Thursday to Sunday.

To view the full men's results, click here. For the women's results, click here.