No. 4 Lopes advance with shutout win

Thursday, April 27

Arlington, Texas

7 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Abilene Christian

Photo by: Taylor Hansen

4/27/2023 3:28:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

GCU earns 4-0 win, advances to face No. 1 UT Arlington

By: Jerob Moon

ARLINGTON, Texas – The fourth-seeded Grand Canyon women's tennis team kicked off the 2023 WAC Tournament with a 4-0 shutout over fifth-seeded Abilene Christian on Thursday morning at the Arlington Tennis Center.

The Lopes (13-9) took care of business in a first-round rematch from last season winning doubles and three singles matches to advance to the semifinals on Friday.

"They came prepared with good energy and took care of business," head coach Katarina Adamovic said. "We are happy with the performance overall. I think overall singles and doubles up and down the lineup did well today."

The Lopes took advantage of a five-man lineup for Abilene Christian (11-13) and won by default at No. 3 doubles before clinching the point at court two. All-WAC second team doubles pair Madeline Lamoreaux and Anali Kocevar won 6-2 to put GCU up 1-0.

Heading into singles GCU jumped ahead 2-0 with a win by default at court six. On the other courts Strombacha dominated her match winning 6-0, 6-0 to put GCU on the brink of the win. At the top singles court Puehse clinched the team win with a 6-4, 6-2 win to improve to 17-3 on the season.

The Lopes were up on the other courts with Lamoreaux winning 6-4, 5-3 at court five while Kocevar took her first set 6-3 at No. 4. At court three Deaifi was beginning to comeback leading 3-2 after dropping her first set.

With the win the Lopes advanced to the semifinals of the WAC Tournament where they will take on top-seeded and host UT Arlington. The Lopes and Mavericks were locked in a close match in the regular season with GCU losing 4-3. The doubles point was the difference in the win for UTA and they advanced out of the first round with a 4-2 win over eight-seed Sam Houston.