Lopes crowned WAC regular-season champs

Saturday, April 10

Edinburg, Texas

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Seattle U

4/10/2021 2:59:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

GCU sweeps Seattle U for 2nd straight regular-season title

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon men's tennis team won its second straight WAC regular-season title on Saturday with a 7-0 shutout of Seattle U in Edinburg, Texas.

It is the third regular-season title for the Lopes (4-12, 3-0 WAC) under head coach Greg Prudhomme, whose team shares the championship with New Mexico State. GCU also shared the 2016 title with New Mexico State and Kansas City when it was ineligible for postseason play and won its first outright title in 2019, finishing 5-0 before winning the WAC Tournament for its first Division I NCAA Tournament appearance. The 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic before conference play began.

"I'm very proud of the men's team all season long," Prudhomme said. "When you're taking tough losses early in the season, it can be tough on the mental game. So, for the guys to be able to show up in conference play, playing their best in the most important time of the season, that said a lot about their resilience."

This season, the Lopes will share the regular-season title with New Mexico State because of UT Rio Grande Valley opting out earlier this week with injuries. The Lopes finished conference play at 3-0 and were scheduled to play the Vaqueros on Sunday. The Aggies finished at 3-1 but tied GCU because of a conference formula weighing percentages for wins and matches played. GCU will be the top seed for the WAC Tournament, hosted by NMSU at the end of the month.

Against the Redhawks (4-12, 2-2 WAC), the Lopes were dominant from the very beginning, winning all three doubles matches to take the point. Senior Valentin Lang and freshman Jiri Novak won their seventh match in a row with a 6-2 win at No. 1. The point was clinched at No. 3 by Freddie Grant and Loic Van Zeggelaar with a 6-1 win as the GCU pair finished 3-0 in WAC play. At No. 2, Mariano Argote and Justin Cvitanovic wrapped up doubles play with a 7-6 tiebreaker win.

In singles, the Lopes took the first three singles matches to clinch the win. Lang was perfect at No. 1 with a 6-0, 6-0 win while Cvitanovic, a fellow senior, finished a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 3. The match was clinched by Novak with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 5.

Leading 4-0, the Lopes continued to pour it on with straight-set wins by Jonathan Da Silva and Mariano Argote at Courts 4 and 2, respectively. Da Silva has won his last four matches and finished 3-0 in WAC play.

Grant was the last to finish at No. 6, winning the first set 7-5 and holding a 3-2 lead in the second set when Seattle U's Mats Krause retired.

"They definitely deserve it and I was proud of their performance," Prudhomme said. "They are certainly excited, but it will be a short celebration because we have our eyes on the conference tournament prize now. We're looking forward to getting back to town and putting in some good work between now and the tournament to see if we can punch a second consecutive ticket to the NCAA tournament."

The Lopes will be back in action against UC Riverside at the GCU Tennis Facility on Tuesday.