Record breaking season comes to an end in Las Vegas

Wednesday, April 22

Las Vegas, Nev.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

(5) UNLV

Photo by: NCAA

4/23/2026 12:11:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Lopes fall to UNLV in Mountain West Men's Tennis Championships

By: Tyler Killgore

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - No. 5 seed Grand Canyon saw its postseason run end Wednesday evening with a 4-1 loss to No. 4 seed UNLV in the Mountain West Championship quarterfinals at Darling Tennis Center.

UNLV seized early momentum by claiming the doubles point with wins on Courts 2 and 3, while the top court with sophomore duo Tristan Berard and Andreas Loizas went unfinished.

The Rebels carried that advantage into singles play, taking the first completed Court 5 singles to build a 2-0 lead.

UNLV kept that momentum with a tight win on Court 1 over Berard. Berard was down 4-1 going into the second set before making a late push to go up 5-4. Ilia Snitari, the Rebel Mountain West Player of the Year however, ran off with the win 6-2, 7-5.

The Lopes answered at Court 4 singles, where sophomore Daniel Jankoski delivered a 6-3, 7-5 victory to put the Lopes on the board.

With the Rebels up 3-1, GCU had to push ahead.

Loizas gave the Lopes the spark they needed coming back down 5-4 in the second set on Court 3. The Greece native sparked a comeback 7-5 win in the second set to keep the Lopes alive.

Sophomore Diordan Macababbad had an incredible comeback in the second set on Court 2 after being down 5-4 eventually pushing to a tiebreaker.

Despite the effort, Macababbad just fell short losing in two straight tiebreakers 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker), 7-6 (7-3 tiebreaker). With UNLV picking up the win they clinched the match ending the Lopes season.

Two additional courts were left unfinished once the match was decided, including a three-set battle on Court 3 for Loizas and a tight third set at Court 6 for junior Brice Patoux.

The Lopes conclude the season at 18-6 overall after advancing to the Mountain West Championship quarterfinals. Despite the postseason heartbreak the Lopes had one of the best seasons historically. With new head coach, Ross Wilson, at the helm, GCU was led to its best start in program history.

Under Wilson, the team was able to break multiple season records in the D1 Era including Junior Charlie Pade finishing in the top two for singles win percentage, the team securing the second highest win percentage in singles in a season, the third most singles wins in a season, as well as the second most dual match wins in a season.