Grand Canyon goes 1-1 on weekend trip to Alabama

AUBURN, Ala. – GCU women's tennis headed to Alabama this weekend where they took on UAB and fourth ranked in the nation, Auburn. The Lopes were able to get a sweep in their match Friday against UAB before falling to Auburn.

GCU wins 4-0 against UAB.

Grand Canyon opened its road swing with a decisive 4-0 victory over UAB on Friday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama

The Lopes secured the win by sweeping the doubles point before earning three straight-set singles victories to clinch the match.

GCU claimed the doubles point with wins on courts One and Two. Sophomore Bella Crossman and junior Gala Arangio set the tone with a convincing 6-2 victory.

Their win was followed by Karina Hofbauer and Hams Metwally closing out a 6-4 win on court One to give the Lopes an early 1-0 advantage.

In singles play, Metwally extended the lead at Court 4 with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win over Gresi Bajri. This victory extended Metwally's unbeaten streak to three matches.

Crossman followed shortly after on Court 2 singles, earning a 6-1, 7-5 victory against Klara Kajabova to put GCU one point away from the match.

Sydney Schnell, the Junior from Phoenix who joined the squad at semester, finished the job for the Lopes clinching the victory on Court 6, defeating Antonia Ende 6-4, 7-5.

The win capped a strong all-around performance for Grand Canyon, highlighted by efficient doubles play and straight-set singles victories that allowed the Lopes to control the match from start to finish. The team would go on to face Auburn on Saturday.

GCU falls to top five ranked Auburn.

Grand Canyon competed against Auburn on Saturday morning at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama, facing a deep Tigers lineup.

Auburn completed the sweep in doubles play on Court 1 and Court 3

Sophomore Karina Hofbauer and Metwally fell 3-6 against DJ Bennett and Ava Esposito.

Freshman Amalia Suciu and Schnell fell 2-6 in their match against Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Ashton Bowers, giving the Tigers the double point.

Over in Singles, the Lopes were able to pick up a point against a very highly touted Tigers team. Metwally was able to pick up the lone victory for the Lopes over Eva Ionescu winning 6-4 and 6-3.

Suciu also had a great battle against Eva Esposito (31st ranked in the nation) losing 4-6, 6-4.

The Lopes will head to Tucson this weekend for the Red Blue Invite hosted by Arizona.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Gala Arangio

Bella Crossman

Karina Hofbauer

Hams Metwally

Sydney Schnell

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