Lopes drop the season opener at ASU

Friday, January 14

Tempe, Ariz.

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Arizona State

1/14/2022 6:26:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Newcomer Marujo battles well in 3-set road match

By: Jerob Moon

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Grand Canyon men's tennis team dropped the season opener to Arizona State 7-0 on Friday at Whitman Tennis Center.

GCU had five returners in the season-opening lineup, four of whom earned All-WAC first-team honors last season.

"The guys played a great match against ASU," Lopes head coach Greg Prudhomme said. "The scoreline was not indicative of how hard they fought from start to finish. ASU played real strong and they came out of the gates fast and jumped on us early, which made it more impressive when our guys kept their composure."

In doubles, the Sun Devils won at all three courts to take the 1-0 lead. At court 1, GCU's junior Mariano Argote and sophomore Jiri Novak lost 6-1 to ASU's Max McKennon and Fabien Salle, the 42nd-ranked doubles pair in the country.

At court 2, GCU's graduate student Freddie Grant and sophomore Loic Van Zeggelaar lost 6-2. Meanwhile, at the bottom court, Lopes newcomer Martim Marujo teamed with sophomore Stanislas De Samucewicz in a loss to ASU's Nicola Cigna and George Stoupe.

"Martim had a great debut as a freshman at No. 4," Prudhomme said. "He won the second set and that's not easy to come into the program mid-January after about five days of practice and battle in a three-set match at ASU."

In singles, ASU took all six first sets all by a score of 6-1. At No. 4, Marujo bounced back after dropping the first set and took the second set 7-5 before falling in three sets. Grant, at No. 3, had a competitive second set, losing a 6-4 battle.

At No. 1 singles, Argote lost in straight sets while Novak fell 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2. It was a similar story at the bottom courts, where Van Zeggelaar was the first to finish with a 6-1, 6-1 loss and De Samucewicz lost 6-1, 6-2 at No. 6.

The Lopes will be back in action at noon Sunday at No. 15 Arizona.