PHOENIX, Ariz. - Saint Mary's traveled to Arizona to take on Illinois State and Grand Canyon over the weekend. A dominant performance Saturday afternoon would give them the 6-1 match victory over Illinois State for their first win of the spring season. 

Saint Mary's 6-1 Illinois State

Pierre Lieutaud, Finn Dyer, Thibaud Maxant and Carlos Ramos Membrives were all undefeated on the day with doubles and singles victories. Maxant and Membrives won the team's opening doubles match while Lieutaud and Dyer clinched the point for the Gaels, both winning 6-2. 

Maxant fended off a pair of tiebreakers to win 7-5, 7-5 in his singles match as five of the team's six singles matches won in straight sets. 

Saint Mary's 2-4 #61 Grand Canyon

The Gaels finished off the weekend with a 4-2 defeat to 61st ranked Grand Canyon, going toe-to-toe with the Lopes after clinching the doubles point with a 6-2 victory from Paulo Hugo Etchecoin and Ellison Greco. 

They would go on to drop four of their five singles matches but went down to the very end with a gritty 7-6, 7-6 singles defeat from Pierre Lieutaud. Etchecoin won the long singles match of the day for Saint Mary's, defeating Matteo Lugari 6-1, 7-6. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Saint Mary's will return to Northern California for the Golden Gate Invite hosted by UC Davis starting on Friday, March 7th. Full match information and results can be found at smcgaels.com. 

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