Glendale, Ariz.- After earning the first two team points of the match, Arizona Christian saw Hope International come back to tie the score before ACU won the last three points for the win.  A trio of Firestorm won both matches in singles and doubles in the first GSAC match of the season for ACU.

Match Info

• Match score: Arizona Christian - 5, Hope International - 2
• Records: Arizona Christian - 5-5, 1-0 GSAC, Hope International - 2-9, 0-3 GSAC
• NAIA Rankings: Arizona Christian - not ranked, Hope International - not ranked
• Location: Paseo Racquet Center, Glendale, AZ

Inside Box Score

• Anthony Popyrin and Jonas Wand cruised 6-1 on doubles one before HIU won on court three
• Jose Dominguez and Andres Vasquez earned the team point for doubles with their 6-3 victory
• Popyrin gave ACU a 2-0 cushion after easily winning 6-2 and 6-1 on singles one
• The Royals won the next two completed singles matches (4 and then 3) to force a 2-2 tie
• Vazquez rolled up double 6-3 wins to claim the third team point for ACU
• On court two, Wand won 6-4 in the first set but dropped set two 6-1
• Needing a third set to decide their match, Wand held off HIU's Reid Lizardo 6-4 for the clinching team point
• Martin Thomas and his HIU counterpart split the first sets with 6-4 decisions on court six
• But Thomas closed out the final set of the day with another 6-4 result

Thoughts from Coach Carlisle

"This was a great rebound for the guys after a tough Indiana trip a couple weeks ago.  We were anxious to put the last few matches behind us and the guys really showed up today and battled against a very good Hope team.  I loved the energy and fire we are playing with this spring and we'll need to keep that up and even bring a little more for the rest of GSAC play.  Today was a great start to our conference season and I am extremely proud of the guys for hanging tough in the big moments and winning a lot of tight matches."

Match v Hope International

Doubles competition

1. POPYRIN, Anthony/WAND, Jonas (ACU) def. LIZARDO, Reid/ELSHEIKH, Yahia (HIU) 6-1

2. DOMINGUEZ, Jose/VASQUEZ, Andres (ACU) def. SZELLO, Adam/SIRVEN, Flo (HIU) 6-3

3. BENCHEGRA, Yazid/LIZARDO, Ricky (HIU) def. MILLET, Andre/THOMAS, Martin (ACU) 6-2

Singles competition

1. POPYRIN, Anthony (ACU) def. SZELLO, Adam (HIU) 6-2, 6-1

2. WAND, Jonas (ACU) def. LIZARDO, Reid (HIU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4

3. ELSHEIKH, Yahia (HIU) def. MILLET, Andre (ACU) 6-4, 6-2

4. BENCHEGRA, Yazid (HIU) def. DOMINGUEZ, Jose (ACU) 6-0, 6-1

5. VASQUEZ, Andres (ACU) def. SIRVEN, Flo (HIU) 6-4, 6-4

6. THOMAS, Martin (ACU) def. LIZARDO, Ricky (HIU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Up Next

The Firestorm will not have to wait long for their next match as they host Westcliff at 1:00 pm at the Paseo Racquet Center on Saturday.