3 Lopes selected to All-WAC teams

Three first-year Grand Canyon players received All-WAC postseason honors. GCU sophomore Brice Patoux made the All-WAC first team for singles, while the Lopes freshman duo of Diordan Macababbad and Andreas Loizas made the All-WAC second team in singles.

All three players showed out in the WAC Tournament and made the All-WAC Tournament Team for their efforts. Patoux took home WAC Singles and Doubles Player of the Week honors during the season, while Macababbad added multiple WAC Doubles Player of the Week awards. He shared one of those awards with Loizas.

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Patoux transferred from Ole Miss last summer, and began play for the Lopes in the fall. He gained invaluable experience over the fall, even taking home the Fall WAC Doubles Championship with partner David Wekesa. The pairing began the season 1-0 before Wekesa went down with a season-ending injury in singles play later that day.

Patoux, who is from Yvetot, France, stepped up in singles play, holding down Court 2 all season with a 10-7 record. In doubles, he ended the season 8-10 overall, finding his footing with senior Jonathan Da Silva at the end of the season. The doubles pair won a WAC Tournament semifinal match, helping the Lopes beat Seattle U and advance to the conference tourney's title match in Dallas.

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Macababbad, who is from Coventry, England, joined the Lopes in January and made an immediate impact upon the back half of the lineup in singles and doubles. Macababbad went 11-3 between Courts 5 and 6 in singles play, clinching multiple matches for GCU in close matches. He won four of his final five decisions and was a game away from finishing the other match for a season-ending, five-match winning streak.

In doubles play, Macababbad went 6-6 on the season, He partnered with Loizas or sophomore Nikita Volonski for a 3-3 doubles record. All but one of his doubles matches came on Court 2 with the other being a Court 1 victory.

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Loizas came to GCU in the fall and had a spot in the starting lineup in the spring after a successful fall season. The native of Athens, Greece, went 7-4 in singles play, competing on every court but Court 6 during the season. Loizas was injured and missed nearly a month in the middle of the season, but he returned in time for the postseason. The freshman won in straight sets in the WAC Tournament semifinals and was a game away from winning his court in the championship before the dual match ended in a loss and left his court unfinished.

In doubles, Loizas and senior partner Paolo Rosati went 2-0 in the WAC Tournament. Loizas also went 7-4 overall in doubles play on the season.

2024-25 WAC men's tennis awards

WAC Player of the Year
Daniel Morozov, Abilene Christian

WAC Freshman of the Year
Tomas Tischner, Abilene Christian

WAC Coach of the Year
Juan Nunez, Abilene Christian

All-WAC first team
Benjamin McDonald, Abilene Christian
Daniel Morozov, Abilene Christian
Tomas Tischner, Abilene Christian
Brice Patoux, GCU
Andres Medus, UT Arlington
Pedro Sasso, UT Arlington
Meethre Barot and Pedro Sasso, UT Arlington (doubles)
Ethan Scribner and Alejandro Verdasco, Abilene Christian (coubles)

All-WAC second team
Merse Deli, Abilene Christian
Andreas Loizas, GCU
Diordan Macababbad, GCU
Filip Stipic, Seattle U
Yazid Lahjomri, UT Arlington
Mattia Ricci, UT Arlington
Yuan Lu and Yu-Han Hsieh, Seattle U (doubles)

Grand Canyon University Athletics

2024-25 WAC men's tennis awards

Players Mentioned

Jonathan Da Silva

Andreas Loizas

Diordan Macababbad

Brice Patoux

Paolo Rosati

Nikita Volonski

David Wekesa

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