Midwest road trip brings 2 opponents


Grand Canyon Lopes (0-4)	vs	Omaha Mavericks (5-3)	Drake Bulldogs (2-3)
		Saturday, Feb. 27 11 a.m.	Sunday, Feb. 28 9 a.m.

The Grand Canyon women's tennis team will hit the road for a Midwest road trip over the weekend with matches against Omaha and Drake in Des Moines, Iowa. It will be the first matches for the Lopes since a match at Arizona on Feb. 13.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

WAC SWEEP: For the first time this season, the Lopes swept the WAC Singles and Doubles Players of the Week honors on Feb. 17. Sophomore Natasha Puehse won at the top singles position over Arizona's Kayla Wilkins 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. In doubles, senior duo Autum Prudhomme and Emilia Occhipinti clinched the doubles point against the Wildcats at No. 2 with a 6-3 win.
HOT STREAK: Puehse, at No. 1 singles, has been on a tear recently with three straight singles wins. The Scottsdale, Arizona, native dropped the season-opening match against Arizona State but since then has picked up wins over Pac-12 opponent Arizona and against Cal Poly in three sets on the road.
BUSY MONTH AHEAD: The season will kick into high gear in March with GCU hosting four matches along with the start of WAC play. The Lopes will host New Mexico on March 8 and Colorado State on March 16 before capping off the month with back-to-back matches against Idaho State on March 23-24. GCU will also play its first two WAC matches against Chicago State and New Mexico State in Las Cruces, New Mexico on March 20-21.

SCOUTING

Omaha has had an up-and-down season. After winning three straight to start the year, the Mavericks lost three in a row, including back-to-back losses against SEC opponent Missouri. Omaha turned it around and has won its past two matches against Northern Iowa by 5-2 and 4-3.

Natalie Lorentz leads the team with a 5-3 singles record at Nos. 2 and 3 positions. Lorentz and doubles partner Marie Kapelevich also lead the team with a 6-1 singles record that includes a perfect 4-0 mark at No. 2. In each win, the Mavericks won the doubles point.

Drake is coming off a 7-0 win over Colorado State on Feb. 19. The Lopes and Rams will matchup on March 16 at the GCU Tennis Facility. The Bulldogs also picked up a 4-3 win over South Dakota in the second dual of the season to sit at 2-3.

Senior Liza Petushkova and junior Daria Walczak lead the team with 3-2 singles records, each of which came at the top two positions. Petushkova and Maria Tatarnikova also lead the team with a 3-2 doubles record at No. 1.

WHAT'S NEXT

GCU will travel to BYU on March 5.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

WHAT'S NEXT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Emilia Occhipinti

Autum Prudhomme

Natasha Puehse

Grand Canyon University Athletics