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Young Lopes test Texas in NCAA tourney loss
5/2/2025 3:47:00 PM | Women's Tennis, Paul Coro
GCU ends season at Austin Regional with Arangio, Mihajlovic finishing strongly
AUSTIN, Texas – The NCAA Tournament seeding gave Grand Canyon women's tennis about as much chance of emerging Friday as the sunshine had at Texas Tennis Center.
Under an overcast sky and with play halted once for rain and once for nearby lightning, the bright future of GCU flickered during a season-ending, 4-0 loss to 14th-ranked host Texas.
Four of the Lopes' six lineup players are in their first year at GCU, as is head coach Dané Vorster. Walking into the Longhorns' building under a sign commemorating 2021 and 2022 national championships and pulling off a first-round upset would have shook the collegiate tennis world, but GCU's young team still caused tremors.
Texas dominated doubles play on two of the three courts to lead 1-0 before a rain delay gave GCU a chance to reset when singles play began.
At one juncture early in the singles matches' first sets across six courts, GCU was leading one match and had three other matches tied to produce a possible path for rallying in the best-of-seven format. A powerful, experienced Texas team prevailed on its home courts, where the Longhorns beat No. 1 Georgia last month.
Lopes sophomore Gala Arangio won the first set of her unfinished match on Court 2 while freshman teammate Angelina Mihajlovic led 5-1 on Court 5 before losing in a tiebreaker.
"They started to embrace and step up to the challenge and realize it is just another match that we need to fight for," Vorster said. "It was really awesome that Gala gave us that set to give us a chance with some really good tennis. Angie nearly took that set and gave some momentum and belief to the other courts."
Texas was making its ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and has not lost a first-round dual match in any of them after being extended for 2 1/2 hours by GCU and weather.
The Lopes lost 6-1 on the top two doubles courts to drop the best-of-three doubles point, although Mihajlovic started her strong day by teaming with senior Valentina Del Marco for a 2-2 start before falling behind 4-2 in the unfinished match.
"We've played top-20 teams earlier this season, but this is a bit of a different setting," Vorster said. "I feel we came out a little timid in doubles, but then we get into it in the singles. It was an adjustment and an experience for a lot of our freshmen and newcomers."
GCU freshman Bella Crossman and Mihajlovic each surged ahead 2-0 on Courts 3 and 5, respectively, and Lopes junior Dania Deaifi took a 2-1 lead on Court 4 in her third NCAA Tournament appearance as a Lope.
But after getting into a 2-0 hole, Arangio emerged as GCU's standout performance of the day on Court 2.
She picked up a service break to win her first game and battled from there, never leading until the left-hander took a 5-4 lead and closed out the 6-4 set.
"I played pretty solid," Arangio said. "It's not my best tennis yet, but I've been working hard before coming to GCU and at GCU. I think today was a bit of proof that all the hard work begins to make sense.
"I'm looking forward to what's next. I'll grab the positive things out of this match and the negatives. I can improve in so many things even though I was winning."
Arangio, who is from Argentina via Mexico, was serving to tie the second set when Texas clinched the match elsehwere with singles wins on Courts 1, 3 and 6. Arangio's opponent, Texas' Carmen Herea, is 9-6 against players from nationally ranked teams this season.
Mihajlovic, who is from Serbia, came the closest to giving GCU a second set win. A forehand trimmed the net and dropped for a 2-0 lead, and she rolled ahead 5-1 on a backhand winner.
Even when Texas' Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz evened the set at 5-5, Mihajlovic bounced back for a 6-5 lead. In the tiebreaker, she rallied out of a 5-0 hole before falling 7-5 on an ace.
"We competed throughout the courts, and we were very professional," Arangio said. "We need to practice more and work harder, and the match is ours."
Even amid a program overhaul, GCU made a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance with a roster featuring four freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and one senior.
The Lopes went 13-11 against an ambitious, road-heavy schedule, in which 17 of 24 matches were away from Phoenix.
"You try to survive and advance, as they say, but it does feel surreal and all of a sudden," Vorster said of Friday's finale. "We have a lot of good things to take away from the season and a lot of things to work on to be even better. We want to be here every year and even more competitive to keep this going."
Vorster impressively blended and improved a roster with only two returning players and three international freshmen (Bella Crossman and Peyton Duckett of Australia and Karina Hofbauer of Germany) who arrived at GCU in early January, just before the spring season and the semester began.
After Friday's match, they huddled one last time under the NCAA Tournament banner with the emotions showing from a team culture that quickly bonded them.
"Everybody talks about the community, but it is 100% true," Arangio said of GCU. "It feels like a second home, a home away from home. It's nice to feel welcome in a place. GCU, the campus, the people. It's a great overall community."
Under an overcast sky and with play halted once for rain and once for nearby lightning, the bright future of GCU flickered during a season-ending, 4-0 loss to 14th-ranked host Texas.
Four of the Lopes' six lineup players are in their first year at GCU, as is head coach Dané Vorster. Walking into the Longhorns' building under a sign commemorating 2021 and 2022 national championships and pulling off a first-round upset would have shook the collegiate tennis world, but GCU's young team still caused tremors.Texas dominated doubles play on two of the three courts to lead 1-0 before a rain delay gave GCU a chance to reset when singles play began.
At one juncture early in the singles matches' first sets across six courts, GCU was leading one match and had three other matches tied to produce a possible path for rallying in the best-of-seven format. A powerful, experienced Texas team prevailed on its home courts, where the Longhorns beat No. 1 Georgia last month.
Lopes sophomore Gala Arangio won the first set of her unfinished match on Court 2 while freshman teammate Angelina Mihajlovic led 5-1 on Court 5 before losing in a tiebreaker.
"They started to embrace and step up to the challenge and realize it is just another match that we need to fight for," Vorster said. "It was really awesome that Gala gave us that set to give us a chance with some really good tennis. Angie nearly took that set and gave some momentum and belief to the other courts."Texas was making its ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and has not lost a first-round dual match in any of them after being extended for 2 1/2 hours by GCU and weather.
The Lopes lost 6-1 on the top two doubles courts to drop the best-of-three doubles point, although Mihajlovic started her strong day by teaming with senior Valentina Del Marco for a 2-2 start before falling behind 4-2 in the unfinished match.
"We've played top-20 teams earlier this season, but this is a bit of a different setting," Vorster said. "I feel we came out a little timid in doubles, but then we get into it in the singles. It was an adjustment and an experience for a lot of our freshmen and newcomers."
GCU freshman Bella Crossman and Mihajlovic each surged ahead 2-0 on Courts 3 and 5, respectively, and Lopes junior Dania Deaifi took a 2-1 lead on Court 4 in her third NCAA Tournament appearance as a Lope.
But after getting into a 2-0 hole, Arangio emerged as GCU's standout performance of the day on Court 2.She picked up a service break to win her first game and battled from there, never leading until the left-hander took a 5-4 lead and closed out the 6-4 set.
"I played pretty solid," Arangio said. "It's not my best tennis yet, but I've been working hard before coming to GCU and at GCU. I think today was a bit of proof that all the hard work begins to make sense.
"I'm looking forward to what's next. I'll grab the positive things out of this match and the negatives. I can improve in so many things even though I was winning."
Arangio, who is from Argentina via Mexico, was serving to tie the second set when Texas clinched the match elsehwere with singles wins on Courts 1, 3 and 6. Arangio's opponent, Texas' Carmen Herea, is 9-6 against players from nationally ranked teams this season.
Mihajlovic, who is from Serbia, came the closest to giving GCU a second set win. A forehand trimmed the net and dropped for a 2-0 lead, and she rolled ahead 5-1 on a backhand winner.
Even when Texas' Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz evened the set at 5-5, Mihajlovic bounced back for a 6-5 lead. In the tiebreaker, she rallied out of a 5-0 hole before falling 7-5 on an ace.
"We competed throughout the courts, and we were very professional," Arangio said. "We need to practice more and work harder, and the match is ours."
Even amid a program overhaul, GCU made a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance with a roster featuring four freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and one senior.
The Lopes went 13-11 against an ambitious, road-heavy schedule, in which 17 of 24 matches were away from Phoenix.
"You try to survive and advance, as they say, but it does feel surreal and all of a sudden," Vorster said of Friday's finale. "We have a lot of good things to take away from the season and a lot of things to work on to be even better. We want to be here every year and even more competitive to keep this going."
Vorster impressively blended and improved a roster with only two returning players and three international freshmen (Bella Crossman and Peyton Duckett of Australia and Karina Hofbauer of Germany) who arrived at GCU in early January, just before the spring season and the semester began.After Friday's match, they huddled one last time under the NCAA Tournament banner with the emotions showing from a team culture that quickly bonded them.
"Everybody talks about the community, but it is 100% true," Arangio said of GCU. "It feels like a second home, a home away from home. It's nice to feel welcome in a place. GCU, the campus, the people. It's a great overall community."
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