Season opens strongly at UNLV

Friday, September 17

Las Vegas, Nev.

Grand Canyon

Larry Easley Memorial Classic

Photo by: Taylor Hansen

9/20/2021 3:19:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Argote picks up 4 victories at 1st fall competition

By: Jerob Moon

LAS VEGAS – The Grand Canyon men's tennis team kicked off the fall season with five singles wins and three doubles wins at this weekend's Larry Easley Memorial Classic at UNLV.

GCU took five players, including four returners, to Las Vegas for the three-day event. Returning All-WAC first-team doubles honorees Mariano Argote and Jiri Novak advanced to the semifinals in the doubles flight by picking up a pair of wins. Argote and Novak defeated Joe Leather and Carter Crookston of Cal Poly 9-7 in the first round before topping Jordan Sauer and Jackson Atherton from UNLV 8-6 in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinal, the Gonzaga pair of Matt Hollingworth and Sasha Trkulja got the best of Argote and Novak in a close 8-6 match.

Argote also picked up two wins in singles, besting Gonzaga's Oliver Andersson in three sets and Crookston from Cal Poly 6-4, 6-3.

GCU sophomore Loic Van Zeggelaar matched Argote with a pair of singles wins. In the second singles flight, Van Zeggelaar defeated UNLV's Jack Hambrook convincingly 6-1, 6-1 and rallied to take down Cal Poly's Hendrik Inno 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Lopes fifth-year returner Freddie Grant also won in three sets in the second singles flight, defeating UNLV's Atherton 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

The men will enjoy a week off before competing in the Arizona Invitational from Oct. 1-3.

Singles

Flight 1
Christopher Bulus (UNLV) def. Jiri Novak (GCU) 6-2, 6-1
Mariano Argote (GCU) def. Oliver Andersson (Gonzaga) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6
Christopher Bulus (UNLV) def. Mariano Argote (GCU) 6-2, 6-2
Oliver Andersson (Gonzaga) def. Jiri Novak (GCU) 6-4, 6-4

Flight 2
Freddie Grant (GCU) def. Jackson Atherton (UNLV) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
Loic Van Zeggelaar (GCU) def. Jack Hambrook (UNLV) 6-1, 6-1
Tom Ciszewski (UNLV) def. Grzegorz Rudnicki (GCU) 6-4, 6-4
Pablo Gomez Galvan (Gonzaga) def. Freddie Grant (GCU) 6-4, 6-7, 6-4
Loic Van Zeggelaar (GCU) def. Hendrik Inno (Cal Poly) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Judson Blair (SDSU) def. Grzegorz Rudnicki (GCU) 6-2, 6-1
Tom Hann (Gonzaga) def. Loic Van Zeggelaar (GCU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2

Added matches
Zach Garner (UNLV) def. Grzegorz Rudnicki (GCU) 7-6, 6-3
Mariano Argote (GCU) def. Carter Crookston (Cal Poly) 6-4, 6-3
Judson Blair (SDSU) def. Loic Van Zeggelaar (GCU) 7-5, 6-2
Colter Smith (Cal Poly) def. Grzegorz Rudnicki (GCU) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles

First round
Christopher Bulus/Milos Dabic (UNLV) def. Grzegorz Rudnicki/Alexis Delisle (GCU/Cal Poly) 8-4
Freddie Grant/Loic Van Zeggelaar (GCU) def. Thomas Navarro/Jack Hambrook (UNLV) 8-2
Mariano Argote/Jiri Novak (GCU) def. Joe Leather/Carter Crookston (Cal Poly) 9-7

Quarterfinals
Matt Hollingworth/Sasha Trkulja (Gonzaga) def. Freddie Grant/Loic Van Zeggelaar (GCU) 8-2
Mariano Argote/Jiri Argote (GCU) def. Jordan Sauer/Jackson Atherton (UNLV) 8-6

Semifinals
Matt Hollingworth/Sasha Trkulja (Gonzaga) def. Mariano Argote/Jiri Novak (GCU) 8-6

Added Matches
Blair, Judson Blaie/ Alex Scemanenco (SDSU) def. Grzegorz Rudnicki/Alexis Delisle (GCU/Cal Poly) 8-3