GCU plays for WAC championship off 4-0 win

Saturday, May 1

Las Cruces, N.M.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Chicago State

Photo by: Mike Martinez

5/1/2021 4:01:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Lopes face Aggies in hopes of landing 2nd NCAA tournament berth in 3 years

By: Jerob Moon

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The top-seeded Grand Canyon men's tennis team defeated No. 4 seed Chicago State in WAC Tournament semifinals on Saturday to advance to a Sunday championship match against host New Mexico State.

The Lopes (7-12) won their sixth consecutive match by taking care of the Cougars (6-15) with the doubles point and three singles wins to punch their championship match ticket.

GCU took the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead with two wins over Chicago State in doubles. In a fairly competitive doubles match, Lopes senior Valentin Lang and freshman Jiri Novak finished at No. 1 with a 6-4 win to extend their team-leading 10-5 record. The point was clinched moments later at Court 2 with a 6-3 win by GCU sophomore Mariano Argote and senior Justin Cvitanovic over the Cougars' Max Sandoval and Jakub Zamorski. Lopes senior Freddie Grant and freshman Loic Van Zeggelaar had their match left unfinished with the GCU pair leading 5-3 at No. 3.

In singles, the Lopes took five of the six first sets and continued to put pressure on the Cougars. Novak, at No. 5, was the first to finish, defeating Zamorski in straight sets for a 2-0 Lopes lead. His doubles partner, Lang, finished moments later at No. 1, winning 6-3, 6-2 to put the Lopes one point away from the win.

In the middle courts, GCU was locked in tough battles. Argote, at No. 2, dropped his first set 4-6 while WAC Freshman of the Year Jonathan Da Silva won a first-set tiebreaker 7-6 (7-3). Cvitanovic also dropped his second set, 2-6, and was on his way to a third set before the match was clinched by Grant at No. 6.

Grant, from Surrey, England, took his sixth win in a row with a 6-4, 6-3 finish over Sandoval to give the Lopes a 4-0 sweep.

The men head to their second WAC championship match in three years, after last season was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are looking to defend their 2019 title, which came on a 4-3 win against New Mexico State. GCU will face the second-seeded Aggies again this year in an attempt to go to their second NCAA tournament in the program's Division I history.

The Lopes and Aggies were co-champions champions for the regular season, but GCU defeated NMSU 5-2 on March 28 in Phoenix. Sunday's championship match will begin at noon (Phoenix time) after the GCU women's tennis team plays in its 8 a.m. championship match at the NM State Tennis Center.