The Grand Canyon men’s tennis split its first road trip of the year, losing a tight dual at Loyola Marymount before bouncing back for a dominant win at Big West defending champion UC Irvine.

In Friday’s dual at LMU, the Lopes lost 4-3 despite battling back in singles play after losing the doubles point.

On Courts 1 and 4, GCU sophomores Andreas Loizas and Diordan Macababbad lost to Max Wuelfing and Kuba Hyrnkiewicz from LMU.

Lopes sophomore Daniel Jankoski started the Lopes’ comeback attempt on Court 3 by defeating Cyrus Ahmad 7-5, 6-2.

However, the Lions clinched the match on Court 2, where GCU sophomore Tristan Berard won the first set 6-3 but lost the next two by 6-3 scores.

The rest of the matches were played out with Lopes junior Charlie Pade rallying for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win and junior Brice Patoux defeated Alex Padro 7-6, 2-6, 7-5 on Court 5.

GCU then headed over to The Racquet Club of Irvine on Saturday to take on the Anteaters in front of a packed crowd. The Lopes dominated, winning 6-1 in the last leg of the road trip to improve their season record to 6-1.

The Lopes took care of business quickly in the doubles matches with Berard and Loizas winning 6-2 and Macababbad and Pade picking up their second win as a duo by a 7-5 score.

Berard started singles play with a Lopes win, defeating Tal Goodman 6-2, 6-4.

On Court 6, Pade remained undefeated this season with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win.

Jankoski took another victory on Court 3 to clinch the dual win for the Lopes. He needed a 10-8 tiebreaker to win an intense first set winning before losing the second set 6-1, setting up the decisive third set that he won 6-3.

The teams played out the rest of the matches on Court 4 and 5, where Macababbad and Patoux secured victories. 

Macababbad kept his comeback streak alive, winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, and Patoux defeated Ruining Huang 4-6, 6-2, 7-6.

“That was a big road win for our team” GCU head coach Ross Wilson said. “The guys kept battling, winning all four of the three-set matches against a tough UC Irvine team.”

The Lopes have a couple weeks off before they face Northern Arizona at GCU Tennis Facility on Feb. 13.