April 1, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Briefly
LMU men's tennis will play their last away match of the regular season this week as they head to West Coast Conference foe, 13th-ranked Pepperdine Wednesday. The Lions will face the Waves at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center for a 3:00 p.m. match. LMU will close out the regular season with three matches at the LMU Tennis Center next week.

LMU This Season
The young Lions have been counting on their five returners for leadership this season. Back for LMU are seniors Sam Tadevosian and Jacek Twarowski, along with sophomores, Renzo Maggi, Dmitry Popov and Nick Von Der Ahe. In addition, first-year head coach Brad Sceney has also welcomed four freshmen, Aris Andreasian (Glendale, CA), Johan Berhof (Kullavik, Sweden), Ivan Lopez (Almeria, Spain) and Stefan Nikolic (Belgrade, Serbia). "Our newcomers are going to have to be ready to perform straight away and I believe they are," Sceney said. "Also our sophomores are going to have to step up a notch from last year and be ready for plenty of playing time. Our team goal is to finish in the top-4 in the conference, last year we took 7th place." "We are currently unranked but we have every opportunity to achieve a national ranking with the schedule that we have," Sceney added. "We face two top-20 teams which will be a great test, and six other teams that are ranked, so the opportunities are there". Over the course of the spring 2008 season, the Lions will face a total of eight teams that appear in the national rankings.

Last Week Recap
Loyola Marymount men's tennis played UCLA Tuesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The fourth-ranked Bruins had little trouble with the Lions, taking a 7-0 victory in a non-conference match. In doubles, the Bruins won on all three courts to begin the day. At No. 1, Meister and Harel Srugo, ranked 37th nationally, defeated Johan Berhof and Sam Tadevosian, 8-4, Dehaine and Seguso beat Ivan Lopez and Renzo Maggi on court two, 8-1, and Stefan Nikolic and Jacek Twarowski lost to UCLA's Drean and Look, 8-6. The Bruins continued their dominance in singles action, taking all six matches for the sweep. Tadevosian faced No. 23 Mathieu Dehaine on court one where he lost (6-2, 5-7, 10-3), Lopez was defeated by his nationally ranked opponent, No. 45 Holden Seguso (6-1, 6-3, 10-6) and UCLA's Michael Look beat Maggi at No. 3 singles (6-0, 6-2). At the bottom half of the line-up, Berhof fell to Jeremy Drean (7-5, 6-1), Nick Meister defeated Nikolic (6-0, 6-0), and Aris Andreasian lost to Ahmed Ismail on court six (6-0, 6-3). The Loyola Marymount men's tennis team traveled to 61st-ranked San Diego for a conference match the following day. The Toreros won the doubles point and five-of-six singles matches to cruise to a 6-1 victory over the Lions. The Toreros took the doubles point with wins on courts one and two to begin the day. At No. 1, 44th-ranked Chris Coetzee and Thomas Liverasage defeated Johan Berhof and Sam Tadevosian, 8-6, and Dean Jackson and Nils Schive beat Ivan Lopez and Renzo Maggi on court two, 8-4. Stefan Nikolic and Jacek Twarowski defeated USD's Tamar Antabi and Charl Wholmarans at the No. 3 slot, 8-3. In singles, freshman Stefan Nikolic earned the only point of the day for the Lions with a win on court six over Levon Brown, 6-0, 6-3. The rest of the singles matches were disappointing for LMU as USD took the victories on courts one through five. At No. 1, Thomas Liversage, ranked 56th nationally, defeated Jacek Twarowski in straight sets (6-4, 6-4), No. 59 Dean Jackson beat Ivan Lopez (6-1, 3-6, 6-3), Sam Tadevosian lost to Charl Wohlmarans ( 6-3, 6-2) on court three, USD's Niles Schive took the match from Renzo Maggi (5-7, 6-2 (5)) and Johan Berhof fell to Tamar Antabi at the No.5 position (6-1, 7-6). LMU played Cal Poly Saturday afternoon at the Mustang Courts to finish off their week of play. Cal Poly swept the doubles matches and continued their solid play into singles to earn a 4-3 victory over the Lions. In doubles, the Cal Poly duo of Foy and Young defeated Sam Tadevosian and Johan Berhof at No. 1, 8-2, Gerst and Sonesson beat Renzo Maggi and Ivan Lopez on court two, 8-4, and Zacks and Jacobs took the match from Jacek Twarowski and Stefan Nikolic at the No. 3 slot, 8-5 for the sweep. In singles action, Lopez won his match at the No. 3 position, defeating Darryn Young in three sets (3-6, 6-4, 6-4), Tadevosian was victorious against Robert Foy on court two (7-5, 2-6, 6-4), and Berhof defeated Robert Zacks No. 5 singles (6-1, 6-1). In more singles, Twarowski lost to Andrew Gerst (6-4, 3-6, 6-0), Maggi fell to Drew Jacobs in straight sets (6-4, 6-4), and Nikolic was defeated by Alexander Sonesson (5-7, 7-6, 6-0).

About #13 Pepperdine
The No. 13 Pepperdine men's tennis team defeated a talented No. 45 Harvard team, 5-2, Saturday afternoon, at Ralphs-Strauss Tennis Center. The Waves won the doubles point over Harvard (7-6) with wins in No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) and Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) defeated Dan Nguyen and Chris Clayton (Harvard), 8-2, in No. 3 doubles to finish first. The No. 2 team of Bassam Beidas (Cario, Egypt) and Rickus de Villiers defeated Alexei Chijoff-Evan and Michael Hayes (Harvard), 8-5, to clinch the doubles point for Pepperdine. The No. 1 doubles team of Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) and Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) suffered their first loss in eight matches when Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov (Harvard) upset the No. 23 team, 8-5. Altmann came off a disappointing doubles loss to capture the first singles victory for the Pepperdine by defeating Ermakov (Harvard) in No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-1. No. 21 Beidas went to three sets before claiming a victory in No. 2 singles over Chris Clayton (Harvard), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 and de Villiers clinched the match for the Waves by defeating Will Guzik (Harvard) in No. 6 singles, 6-4, 6-4. No. 6 Begemann played a long and grueling match against Kumar on the No. 1 court before finishing last for the Waves with a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), victory. The Lions will look to bounce back against the Waves after losing in Malibu 7-0 last season. Pepperdine has a 13-0 overall series record against the Lions. Coach Adam Steinberg begins his sixth season as the head coach for the Pepperdine men's tennis team. As head of the program, he has led the Waves to an overall record of 96-25, with five consecutive conference championships and postseason appearances.

Head Coach Brad Sceney
Sceney comes to the bluff after serving as the Director of Tennis at The Paseo Club in Valencia, CA., and enjoying an impressive collegiate career at Pepperdine from 1995-98. "We are excited to add Brad to our LMU family," LMU Athletic Director, Bill Husak said. "Brad has championship experience, both collegiately in the West Coast Conference, and professionally on the ATP Tour. We look forward to watching his leadership in action as he begins his work with our program." An All-American while at Pepperdine, Sceney helped the Waves to a top-10 ranking each of his four seasons in Malibu. His mark of 85 career singles victories is still the Pepperdine record today. In 1996, Sceney won the All-American Doubles Championship. Following his collegiate career, Sceney spent time in the professional tennis ranks, earning rankings in the top-600 in singles and top-300 in doubles after just one year on the ATP Tour. "I am excited to return to the collegiate athletics world," Sceney said. "LMU is a fantastic place to work and play, with a beautiful campus and great facilities that provide the basis for a top tennis program. I look forward to working toward that end with the team and staff." Sceney, a native of Australia, won the 1992 Australian Open Junior Doubles Championship. He was the second-ranked junior in Australia from 1986-1992 and was a member of the country's junior national team. For the last nine years, Sceney has worked with Topseed Tennis Academy, a corporation that owns and operates three tennis clubs and one sports club in Southern California. Hired as a tennis instructor in 1999, Sceney advanced to the title of Director of Tennis at one of the company's sites, The Paseo Club in Valencia, CA. There, he manages a staff of 10 tennis professionals and coordinates the tennis program for approximately 3,500 members.