TUCSON, Ariz. – The Gonzaga men's tennis team began their 2024-25 campaign today at the Wildcat Invite, emerging with a 2-1 record in doubles matches and a 3-3 showing in singles competition.
Kai-Luca Ampaw and Jay Fairclough notched a season-opening 6-2 victory over Northern Arizona's Kai Mills and Ivan Perisic in the first doubles match, while Gus Krauel and Tom Dunlop lost 6-0 to Arizona's Cole Stelse and Inaki Cabrera-Bello. In the final doubles contest, Giovanni Branchetti and Fabio Stapper defeated New Mexico State's Lance Urlaub and Patrick Lohmann, 6-4.
Shifting to singles, Stapper dropped the opening set 1-6 against Northern Arizona's Noa Tcherniack, but fought back to win an exciting match after earning the next two sets 6-4, 6-4. Branchetti defeated NMSU's Ricardo Mercado 6-0, 6-1, while Ampaw came away with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over NMSU's Henrik Lynum.
Dunlop lost 3-6, 3-6 against New Mexico's Daniel Kakhniuk, while Fairclough and Krauel both dropped their singles matches 2-6, 5-7 (to UNM's Avery Tallakson and NMSU's Tobias Wallin, respectively).
Up next: Competition will continue tomorrow and Sunday at the Wildcat Invite, hosted by the University of Arizona.
Results:
Singles:
- Fabio Stapper def. Noa Tcherniack (NAU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Giovanni Branchetti def. Ricardo Mercado (NMSU) 6-0, 6-1
- Kai-Luca Ampaw def. Henrik Lynum (NMSU) 7-5, 6-0
- Daniel Kakhniuk (UNM) def. Tom Dunlop 3-6, 3-6
- Avery Tallakson (UNM) def. Jay Fairclough 2-6, 5-7
- Tobias Wallin (NMSU) def. Gus Krauel 2-6, 5-7
Doubles:
- Kai-Luca Ampaw/Jay Fairclough def. Kai Mills/Ivan Perisic (NAU) 6-2
- Cole Stelse/Inaki Cabrera-Bello (Arizona) def. Gus Krauel/Tom Dunlop 6-0
- Giovanni Branchetti/Fabio Stapper def. Lance Urlaub/Patrick Lohmann (NMSU) 6-4
