Jan. 27, 2004

Los Angeles, CA (Jan. 27) -- After 29 years of coaching, one would think that Loyola Marymount women's tennis head coach Jamie Sanchez would be satisfied. After all, his program has never finished lower than fourth in the West Coast Conference, he has won 372 games (12th all-time nationally) and earned a conference crown in 2002.

However, entering the 2004 season Sanchez has made some changes to his approach to insure the Lions continue their climb to the top of the WCC.

"In looking at the direction of our program, I made the decision to stay with players in the Southern California area," said Sanchez. "This was a change from the past, including our championship in 2002. We wanted to get quality players with a high level of ability that can build our program with local ties." Although the Lions bring back just three players with only one from the 2002 championship, they reload according to what Sanchez wanted to achieve. The Lions bring in six new players, five of which are freshman with quality junior tennis experience on the west coast. The sixth is a transfer with collegiate experience that will help give the young squad additional experience.

"We are trying to grow a base with local talent," said Sanchez. "With our three returning players and our transfer we have a good mix of experienced players to add to our incoming freshman. We needed individuals to compliment one another. We will just need more experience and we will get that as the season progresses."

Returning for the Lions are Jennifer Baker, Patrycia Hubl and Erin Sanchez. Baker, the lone senior on the squad, has played one season for the Lions after transferring from Arizona State. Hubl is the most decorated player returning to the Lions as just a sophomore, earning All-WCC honors in both singles and doubles. Sanchez, as a junior, is the only player left from the 2002 championship team.

"From our returning players we will need intangibles of leadership on and off the court and their experience of collegiate tennis," said Sanchez. "The main difference from past teams is not so much in talent. They are very talented. What is different is the level of experience. As the season progresses this team will quickly gain experience and learn on the job."

Joining the three returning letterwinners for the Lions with college experience is transfer Carla Arguelles from the University of California at Berkeley. Arguelles of Wheathampstead, England, played for the third-ranked Bears and was the eighth-ranked player in England as a junior.

Coming to the Lions in their first year of college tennis is Robyn Baker, Serena Fermin, Erin Ivey, Kimi Kaloi and Tamara Tanner. All six new players match with the returning players to meet goals Sanchez and assistant coach Adam Brewer put together.

"We went back to a program I started several years back that is designed to address three goals: strength & conditioning, doubles play and singles play," said Sanchez. "This group has worked hard on their conditioning and they are very motivated. The players we recruited all have backgrounds in doubles play, combining well with the experienced players to make us very tough in doubles. Finally, in singles we have a good foundation with this group. As they gain experience through the season we will get better in singles.

Hubl, a sophomore out of Poland, had a successful first season at LMU. She earned all-conference honors as both a singles and doubles player, claiming first-team honors in doubles with a record of 15-11. She finished 21-11 in singles. She will be paired with Fermin, who at Troy High School in Fullerton, Calif., won a state doubles championship in 2002 and was a league finalist in singles in 2001 and 2002. Baker, who finished her first season at LMU 20-17 overall as a singles player and 12-9 in doubles play, will team with Tanner to form another doubles team for the Lions. Tanner was a two-time all-city and all-state selection at Aliso Niguel High School.

The final doubles team will feature a pair of newcomers in Arguelles and Kaloi. In transferring from Cal, Arguelles was primarily a number five and six singles player for the Bears. She teams with one of the best doubles players ever in Hawaii high school tennis. Kaloi won the Hawaii State Doubles Championships all four years of high school at Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu.

"Doubles is very important in setting the tone for the rest of the match," said Sanchez. "We have very talented doubles players and we are hoping this will become a strength of this team."

The young team will be thrown into the fire quickly with one of the nation's toughest schedules. "In setting up our schedule this year I wanted to throw our young team right into playing the best," said Sanchez. "One of our top goals this year was to challenge our young team every day of practice and every time we play a match. We want to establish the mind set that we can play anyone."

Starting out of the gate against the 11th-ranked team in the country when they travel to UCLA on Jan. 28 is just the start. The Lions are slated to play 15 teams ranked in the preseason ITA Rankings. Other ranked teams on the Lions schedule are at eighth-ranked William & Mary (Feb. 14), at 28th-ranked San Diego State (Feb. 18), home against second-ranked Stanford (Feb. 20) and 61st-ranked UC Irvine (Feb. 25) to close out February.

Ranked opponents will continue at 20th-ranked Fresno State (March 6), home date with ninth-ranked North Carolina March 6), at 58th-ranked Long Beach State (March 13), home against third-ranked California (March 19), 65th-ranked Brown (April 1), 74th-ranked Cal State Northridge (April 15) and 75th-ranked UC Santa Barbara (April 17). The Lions will close the regular season at rival and 42nd-ranked Pepperdine (April 20). The WCC Tournament will be held on April 22-23 at Santa Clara.

"We have a tough, tough schedule," said Sanchez. "This is who we are going to have to beat if we are going to meet the goals we have set. There is no question we are going to have growing pains. However, this schedule is set-up to develop the mind set that we can compete against anyone and when we beat them it is not a surprise. They have to believe in themselves."

- GO LIONS -