Lopes fall to NAU on Senior Day

Monday, April 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Northern Arizona

4/18/2022 4:06:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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GCU honors 4 seniors in regular-season finale

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon women's tennis team concluded the regular season at home with a 5-1 loss to Northern Arizona on Monday.

The Lopes (8-9) honored seniors Autum Prudhomme, Fabienne Schmidt, Kristin Vogel and Jana Weiss before the match. It is a special group of players that combined for three WAC regular-season titles, a WAC Tournament championship in 2021 and seven All-WAC honors.

Northern Arizona (10-7) began the match by clinching the doubles point against GCU with wins on the bottom two courts. Weiss and freshman Valentina Del Marco lost 6-2 at Court 3, but junior Natasha Puehse and sophomore Santa Strombacha responded with a 6-2 win at No. 1. The Lumberjacks closed out doubles with a 6-4 win over Schmidt and Prudhomme at Court 2 to take an early 1-0 lead.

In singles, the Lopes shifted the lineup and had four players available while NAU had just five to pick up a win by default at Court 5. Up 2-0, NAU extended its advantage with first-set wins on three courts.

Prudhomme, at No. 3, lost in straight sets while NAU clinched the dual-match win with a 6-3, 6-3 win over GCU sophomore Aline Buhr at Court 2. Strombacha moved up to the No. 1 position and fell in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

The final match featured Vogel making her GCU singles debut. The Waldbronn, Germany native took her first set against NAU's Ava Neyestani 6-4. After she dropped the second set, Vogel was able to prevail in three sets, winning the 10-point tiebreaker, 10-6. It is Vogel's first Division I win after competing for four seasons at Lincoln Memorial.

The Lopes will now turn their attention to the WAC Tournament beginning on Friday against No. 8 seed Abilene Christian at 10 a.m. (Phoenix time).