Three teams in, three teams through.
 
For the first time in program history, the Grand Canyon University Club Tennis team sent all three of its squads to the Gold Flight, as the Lopes' 'A,' 'B' and 'C' teams each advanced out of pool play at the Northern Arizona University Lumberjack Open in Flagstaff. Although none of the three could get past its opening Gold Flight match, the depth on display made for an encouraging start to the 2026-27 season.
 
"It's pretty rare to have three teams from one school qualify for the gold flight," said Lopes' Head Coach Ed Prudhomme. "That's a pretty good sign of our growing team's depth. The program has taken a huge jump from where it was even six years ago."
 
The Lopes' 'A' team picked up right where it left off last spring, when it closed the 2025-26 season with a seven-match winning streak and the NAU Easter Tournament title. GCU opened pool play Saturday morning with a 30-11 win over Arizona State University Polytechnic's 'A' team, routed NAU's 'B' team, 30-6, and closed out the day by holding off the University of Arizona's 'A' team, 29-18, to push that streak to 10 straight matches.
 
The perfect pool-play run earned the Lopes the No. 2 seed in the Gold Flight and a first-round bye, but the streak came to an end in Sunday's quarterfinals as Arizona State's 'B' team edged GCU, 24-20.
 
GCU's 'B' team went 2-1 in pool play, pairing lopsided wins over NAU's 'D' team (30-8) and the University of Texas-El Paso's 'A' team (30-2) with a 30-10 loss to ASU's 'A' team, before falling to Mesa Community College's 'A' team, 28-13, in the quarterfinals. The 'C' team also won two of their three pool play matches, topping Utah State University's 'B' team, 27-17, and edging NAU's 'C' team, 24-22, before Utah State's 'A' team ended its run with a 30-10 decision in the round of 16.
 
"(Having all three teams lose their first Gold Flight match) might've been disappoint if it were not for seeing the results at the end of the tournament with the wins each had," said Prudhomme. "I feel confident that we are ahead of two of our top competitors and right behind the top team in our section. So, with a little more throughout the season, we should have a chance to make another run at a national bid."
 
The Lopes stay closer to home when they return to action Oct. 23 in Scottsdale at the United States Tennis Association's Tennis On Campus West Coast Fall Invitational.