Fresno, Calif. - In another weekend of fall tennis that saw numerous standout performances by a young Loyola Marymount squad, freshmen Linas Cicenas and Matt Phillips and sophomore Michael Chan brought home three more titles for the Lions' fall collection from the Bulldog Classic held in Fresno, Calif.

Cicenas dominated flight C, defeating players from Saint Mary's, Nevada, Pacific, and UNLV, en route to the championship. The Vilnius, Lithuania, native faced off against teammate Carlos Malet in the final and took the title 6-4, 6-0.

Malet had faced Phillips in the semifinal, defeating the freshman in a close battle 6-2, 2-6, 10-7, to move on to the final.

"All three of these guys played with a great deal of confidence this weekend," head coach Nik DeVore said. "Linas beat a very good player in Marko Blagojevic of UNLV in the semifinal, Carlos fought back from being down 4-1 in the second and third sets to defeat Chris Wetzig of UCSB in the quarterfinal, and Matt defeated Mason Fuller of San Francisco 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 en route to the semifinal."

Chan lost in the first round to Blagojevic, but went on to win the consolation championship after victories over players from Pacific, Santa Clara, and Nevada.

"Mike lost a hard-fought match in the first round, but it might have been the best thing for him," DeVore said. "He really found his game this weekend with his wins in the back draw."

Freshman Nicolas Terrien continued his winning ways, defeating players from UCLA, UCSB, and Fresno State before falling 6-4, 6-4 to eventual tournament champion Romain Massaro of UNLV in the B flight semifinal.? Terrien now stands at 7-1 this fall.

"Nico is getting stronger with every match he plays," DeVore said. "Once he has completely adjusted to the hard courts, he will be very tough to beat."

Junior Beau Berglund lost a tough three set match to Michael Duong of Pacific in the second round of flight B, but went on to defeat players from Washington, UCSB, and Santa Clara in the back draw.

In doubles, the team of Phillips and Chan captured the flight B doubles championship with wins over the accomplished team of Zepponi/Hidalgo of Santa Clara 8-6 and Hogan/O'Shea of San Francisco 8-5.

Overall, the Lions went 22-8 in singles play and 8-2 in doubles play to claim the three titles.

Several west coast schools competed in the annual event, which was divided into flights for the first time in tournament history. Participating teams included USC, California, Washington, UCLA, Oregon, Nevada, Fresno State, and WCC opponents Santa Clara, San Francisco, and Saint Mary's.

Next up for the Lions is the ITA Region 8 South Championship held October 22-26 in Carson, Calif., at the Home Depot Center. One of the toughest regions in the country, competing teams include UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, Arizona State, Arizona, San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Fresno State, and Pacific.

--GO LIONS--