Lopes fall in marathon match

Tuesday, March 9

Phoenix, Ariz.

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Utah State

3/9/2021 5:11:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

GCU, Utah State battle for more than 4 hours

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon men's tennis team lost a competitive 4-3 match to Utah State on Tuesday at GCU Tennis Facility

It was a match that went the distance with GCU (1-9) taking the doubles point and the dual ending after nearly four and a half hours with the final singles match, a No. 1 battle with the Lopes' Valentin Lang going into tiebreakers in the final two sets.

Lang, at No. 1 doubles, helped get the Lopes out on the right foot, winning the opening doubles match 6-2 with partner Jiri Novak. After GCU's Freddie Grant and Loic Van Zeggelaar lost 6-3 at No. 2, it came down to Justin Cvitanovic and Mariano Argote at No. 2. The GCU pair was down 3-0 but then won seven of the next nine games to win 7-5 and clinch the point for the Lopes.

In singles, Utah State (7-3) took the 2-1 team lead with two straight-set wins over Argote and Novak at Courts 2 and 4. But Grant and freshman Jonathan Da Silva picked up wins at the bottom two positions to limit the Aggie momentum.

Grant trailed 3-1 and faced a match point but won the final three games to take his first set 7-5. The senior from Surrey, England, then took control in the second set, winning 6-3.

Da Silva dominated his first set, winning 6-2 and was up 2-1 in the second before dropping five straight games and the set 6-2. But the freshman recovered and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set and won 6-2 to give the Lopes back their lead at 3-2.

GCU had a chance to close out the win at the top court with Lang holding a 5-4 advantage in the second set after winning his first set 6-4. The senior captain couldn't close out the match and dropped the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-3) to go to a third. Cvitanovic also forced a third set, winning 7-5 in the second after losing the first set.

In the third sets for the Lopes, Cvitanovic fell behind 3-2 and was unable to regroup in a 6-2 third-set loss to tie the dual match 3-3.

The match came down to Lang and Utah State's Sergiu Bucur. The GCU senior was trailing 4-3 and 5-4 before buckling down to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. Bucur jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and finished Lang and the Lopes with a 7-3 tiebreaker win to give the Aggies a 4-3 team victory.

The Lopes will look to regroup this weekend on the road playing a pair of matches at Cal Poly on March 12 and against Gonzaga in a neutral site match on March 13.