Lopes drop neutral-site matches

Tuesday, March 8

Las Vegas, Nev.

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Illinois State

3/8/2022 11:22:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

GCU fights hard in pair of matches against Illinois State

By: Jerob Moon

LAS VEGAS – Both Grand Canyon tennis teams kicked off a week in Las Vegas with two close losses to Illinois State on Tuesday.

Despite the women's 4-3 loss and the men's 4-2 loss, the Lopes battled in singles and doubles all day at the Darling Tennis Center.

In the morning match, the women lost the doubles point by dropping 6-2 and 6-1 matches on Courts 1 and 3. Graduate Fabienne Schmidt and fifth-year Autum Prudhomme trailed 5-3 when their match was abandoned at Court 2.

Despite the early 1-0 deficit the Lopes (2-5) attempted a comeback in singles. GCU junior Natasha Puehse went three sets at the No. 1 position to extend her three-match winning streak, defeating ISU's Tijana Zlatanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Meanwhile, Schmidt and sophomore Santa Strombacha also won in straight sets at Courts 2 and 3.

The Lopes just needed one more win on the three bottom courts to complete the comeback, but Illinois State held strong. Senior Jana Weiss had to retire in her match in the second set while Prudhomme lost 6-3, 6-1 and freshman Valentina Del Marco battled but eventually lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The men, fresh off a comeback win against UC Riverside on Sunday, played in the afternoon and had a similar experience to the women with dropping the doubles point. The top two courts for the Lopes each lost 6-3 while graduate Freddie Grant and sophomore Loic Van Zeggelaar were up 5-4 when the Redbirds clinched the point.

Down 1-0, the Lopes responded in singles with three first-set wins and parlayed those into wins at the bottom courts. Van Zeggleaar, at No. 5 ,won his first set 6-2 but lost the second set 6-3 and had to withstand a close 7-5 third set against Illinois State's Diego Herrera. Meanwhile, sophomore Stanislas De Samucewicz cruised to a 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 6 for his second straight win.

Illinois State pulled out victories on the top three courts to edge out GCU. Sophomore Jiri Novak and Grant lost in straight sets at Nos. 1 and 3 while junior Mariano Argote rallied from a first-set loss, forcing a third set with a 6-4 second-set win before losing 6-0 in the third.

The women will be back in action on Friday at the GCU Tennis Facility at 11 a.m. against BYU while the men will enjoy an extended break and prepare for the start of WAC play on March 19 against Lamar.