Lopes repeat as WAC regular-season champs

Saturday, April 16

Phoenix, Ariz.

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

Photo by: Elizabeth Tinajero

4/16/2022 8:07:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU beats rival NMSU to win West Division, claims 4th WAC title in 6 years

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon women's tennis team captured its second straight WAC regular-season title with a 5-2 win over New Mexico State on Saturday.

Winning the WAC West Division marked the fourth regular-season title in the past six years for the Lopes (8-8, 5-0 WAC), who clinched the No. 1 seed in next week's WAC Tournament. GCU will face No. 8 seed Abilene Christian on Friday.

Against the Aggies (7-15, 3-1 WAC), the Lopes defended home court by starting off with the doubles point. Freshman Sara Rakim and senior Jana Weiss kicked off the match with 6-2 win at Court 3 while senior duo Autum Prudhomme and Fabienne Schmidt clinched the 1-0 GCU lead with a 6-2 win at Court 2. Prudhomme and Schmidt wrapped up conference play with a 3-1 record.

After the point was clinched, Lopes junior Natasha Puehse and sophomore Santa Strombacha lost a tough 6-3 match at Court 1.

With GCU leading 1-0, Puehse quickly extended the lead in singles with a 6-2, 6-3 win that capped off her 4-0 record in WAC play.

After the Aggies got on the scoreboard with a win at No. 6, Prudhomme kept the Lopes lead at two with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 5 and also finished with a 4-0 WAC record. That win kept the momentum in GCU's favor as Strombacha, at Court 3, and Weiss, at Court 4, were able to take their second and third sets after dropping their first sets.

With GCU up 3-1 in the team score, Strombacha clinched the regular-season title. The Berlin native who transferred to GCU from Arizona last summer was perfect in the second and third sets, winning both 6-0 after dropping the first set. After winning, Strombacha celebrated with her teammates while two other Lopes were still playing on the courts.

Schmidt, at No. 2, endured a competitive match against NMSU's Mingfang Zhu that featured multiple long rallies from each player. Schmidt lost the first set 6-2 but dug out of a 5-3 hole in the second set and forced a tiebreaker, where she lost 7-5.

The final match featured Weiss at Court 4. The GCU senior, who clinched the winning match against the Aggies in the WAC Tournament final last year in Las Cruces, overcame a first-set loss to win 6-1, 6-1 and close out the match.

The Lopes celebrated with the WAC West Division championship sign on the court with head coach Greg Prudhomme, who earned his ninth WAC regular season title between the GCU men's and women's programs.

GCU will have a quick turnaround for Senior Day on Monday in the final regular-season match against Northern Arizona. The prematch festivities for four seniors will begin at 10:45 a.m. with first serve starting at 11 a.m. at GCU Tennis Facility.