Lopes fall in opener at No. 19 Arizona State

Saturday, January 14

Tempe, Ariz.

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Arizona State

1/14/2023 2:22:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

GCU responds late in doubles on all 3 courts

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon women's tennis team dropped its regular-season opener to No. 19 Arizona State on Saturday in Tempe.

The Lopes (0-1) competed hard in doubles, pushing the Sun Devils (1-0) on all three courts before ASU took control in singles to win 7-0.

"It was fun," Katarina Adamovic said after her first collegiate match as a GCU head coach. "We started really energetic, and that's what we have been working on throughout the fall. Some started slow on a few courts and others started good, but we finished well, especially in doubles."

The Lopes fell behind early in doubles but rallied to keep the crucial first point of the match alive. At Court 2, GCU sophomore Valentina Del Marco and freshman Dania Deaifi were down 4-0 but rallied to tie their match at 5-5. Their match was left unfinished with the GCU duo trailing 6-5. Meanwhile, at Court 3, Lopes graduate Madeline Lamoreaux and freshman Hebe Toyos trailed 4-1 but got back in the match down 5-4.

ASU took the 1-0 lead with a pair of 6-4 wins at Courts 1 and 3.

"I thought that was the best doubles we've played since this fall," Adamovic said. "Our goal has been throughout the fall to make another play and stay the course. We want to keep fighting and make the opponent beat us, not beat yourself. And I think that was good to see how they responded."

The 19th-ranked Sun Devils took control in singles, using their strong lineup that featured four players ranked inside the top 100 of the ITA national rankings. All six matches ended in straight-set wins for Arizona State, but senior Natasha Puehse battled in the longest match of the day at the top singles court.

Puehse pushed the first set to 5-5 before ultimately falling 7-5 and led 2-1 in the second set before losing 6-4.

"I thought it was good on some courts in singles, and some courts definitely needed to do a better job," Adamovic added. "That's what we're going to work on tomorrow. It's another chance to fix things that didn't work today."

The Lopes will be back in action Sunday for their home opener against UC San Diego. Because of rain in the morning forecast, the match time has been pushed back to 1 p.m. at the GCU Tennis Facility.