Women's Tennis | 4/16/2024 12:30:00 PM

(St. George, Utah – April 16, 2024) - The Trailblazers travel to the WAC Tournament this week getting action started in Texas on Thursday facing top seed Grand Canyon.

Who | No. 8 seed Utah Tech (6-15, 0-7 WAC) vs. No. 1 seed Grand Canyon (19-2, 7-0 WAC)
When | Thursday, April 18 / 11 a.m.
Where | HEB Tennis Center at Pendleton Park – Harlingen, Texas
Live Results | Live Stats
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

A GLANCE AT THE GRAND CANYON LOPES
Grand Canyon enters the WAC Tournament as the top seed in the conference after winning the conference regular season title with a perfect 7-0 mark. The Lopes are ranked No. 62 nationally in this week's ITA Top 75.

GCU went 19-2 overall this season with its lone two losses coming to Baylor and Arizona, who are ranked No. 36 and No. 39, respectively in this week's ITA rankings.

The Lopes, who have won 10 straight matches, are led by graduate student Natasha Puehse, who ranks No. 113 nationally in singles.

The Trailblazers fell to the Lopes, 6-1 at home on March 22 with Mariana Zurita winning at number three singles. She took the first set, 6-2 before her opponent had to retire in the second set.

Puehse led the Lopes with a 16-2 dual record at number one singles, including a 5-2 mark against WAC opponents, and totaled 14 of her wins in straight sets.

Freshman Elizaveta Morozova went 13-2 in dual action and went undefeated in WAC play at number four singles without dropping a single set.

Two other Lopes were among the WAC leaders in wins in freshman Iva Sepa, who went 12-4 in dual action, and senior Santa Strombacha, who posted a 17-1 mark at number two singles.

LAST TIME OUT
The Trailblazers fell 4-3 to Seattle U to close out the regular season last Saturday.

Utah Tech won the doubles point with Rachel Mellor and Mariana Zurita winning 6-3 at the top spot while Ya-Chi Hsu and Ana Gutierrez Sampere claimed a 7-5 win at number two doubles.

The Redhawks responded in singles winning four of six matches with Zurita winning at number three singles, 6-1, 6-0 and Mellor winning at number four singles as her opponent retired in the second set.

Seattle U earned wins at the other four singles as Hsu won the opening set at number five singles, 6-2 before falling in a tiebreaker in set two and 6-0 in the deciding set.

WAC TOURNAMENT
In addition to the Trailblazers and Lopes in the opening round, the other three opening round matchups feature No. 4 seed Seattle U against No. 5 seed Abilene Christian in the top side of the bracket.

The bottom side of the bracket is No. 3 seed UT Arlington taking on No. 6 seed UTRGV and No. 2 seed Tarleton State and No. 7 seed Stephen F. Austin.

The semifinals will take place on Friday afternoon with the finals set for Saturday afternoon.

SINGLES & DOUBLES WIN LEADERS
On the singles side, Mellor leads the team with 10 wins, including a 5-0 mark at number three singles.

Zurita is second on the team with seven singles wins going 4-1 at number two singles.

Adithi Venkatakrishnan also has tacked on six singles win, including five at number one singles.

Flipping over to doubles, Ya-Chi Hsu and Ana Gutierrez Sampere each have a team-leading 10 wins with eight coming together at number two doubles.

LOOK BACK AT THE 2023 WAC TOURNAMENT
Grand Canyon won the 2023 WAC Tournament with a 4-3 win over Tarleton State in the finals.

The Lopes went on to face Pepperdine in the NCAA Tournament falling in straight sets to the Waves.

2024 ROSTER
The 2023-24 roster consists of 11 student-athletes with four freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and three seniors.

The Trailblazers return six student-athletes from last year while welcoming four freshmen and one junior college transfer in Laura Coulome.

Seven Trailblazers are from outside of the United States while four Blazers hail from the United States.

HEAD COACH ERIC PELTON
Eric Pelton is in his 18th season as the head coach of the Utah Tech women's tennis program in 2024.

Utah Tech has racked up 104 wins over his 18 seasons leading the Trailblazers and helped lead then-Dixie State to a career-high 13 wins in 2018-19 and added six more in the COVID-19 shortened season of 2019-20.