PHOENIX, Ariz. – In spite of being delayed by weather, the Wichita State men's tennis team picked up a confident 5-2 win over the Lopes of Grand Canyon in the team's season opener.
 
Head Coach Darragh Glavin was happy to kick off the season with a win.
 
"It's always great to start the season with a win," Glavin said. "I'm very proud of the fight the team showed today."
 
The doubles point was closely contested on all three courts. The No. 3 Shocker pairing of Luke Bracks and Alejandro Jacome got the first win of the season for Wichita State with a 6-3 victory, but a close 5-7 loss by Vanja Hodzic and Misha Kvantaliani at court No. 1 turned all eyes to court two where Richey King and Marcelo Sepulveda vied for the decisive point. 

The Shocker duo emerged victorious on court two, battling back from down 5-6 to clinch the doubles point for the Shockers in the seven-point tie break.

"We started off a little slow in both doubles and singles, but we were able to turn around some matches and come up with some good wins to start off the season strong," Glavin said.
 
In singles, Jacome prevailed first, claiming a victory via sweep at singles No. 1. Kvantaliani was next, compiling a win after emerging victorious in a seven-point tiebreak in the second set and giving the Shockers a 3-0 advantage on the scoreboard.
 
Grand Canyon collected their first point of the match at court No. 5 with a defeat of Bracks. 
 
King was next to finish, as he pulled out a close, three set win on singles court six in another seven-point tiebreak to clinch the match for the Shockers.
 
Hodzic grabbed the fifth and final point of the match for the Shockers at court three with a three-set triumph.
 
The Shockers are now 3-0 all-time against Grand Canyon and Wichita State has now won their season opening match in three consecutive seasons.
 
The team will get a short rest, before turning around to play Northern Arizona tomorrow at 12:00 PM at Arizona State's Whiteman Tennis Center. The Shockers will also play Arizona State tomorrow following their match against the Lumberjacks.