April 17, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Briefly
Loyola Marymount men's tennis will face San Francisco Friday at 11:00 a.m. in first round action at the West Coast Conference Championship hosted by the University of Santa Clara. The fifth-seeded Lions (9-12, 2-3 WCC) will battle the fourth-seeded Dons (14-6, 2-2 WCC), with a trip to the WCC semifinals at stake.

Last Week Recap
LMU men's tennis hosted 58th-ranked UC Irvine Wednesday in the first of three home matches to finish out the regular season. The Lions lost the doubles point, but bounced back to win four singles matches en route to a 4-3 victory. UC Irvine won two-of-three doubles matches to earn a 1-0 lead over LMU to begin the day. Victor Lamm and Ajay Ahluwalia defeated Sam Tadevosian and Jacek Twarowski at No.1, 8-6, and Zac Tsai and Alex Sundling beat Ivan Lopez and Johan Berhof at the No. 2 position, 8-4. On court three, Renzo Maggi and Nick Von Der Ahe won their match against Andrew Bertolini and Trevor Dobson, 8-6. In singles action, Twarowski won the deciding match point at the No. 1 slot to ensure the victory for the Lions. He won the tiebreaker in the third set to defeat Sundling in a very close match (6-2, 6-7, 7-6). Lopez defeated Dobson at the No. 2 spot (6-4, 3-6, 6-3), Berhof won his match on court four (7-5, 6-2) and Maggi came from behind to force a third set where he defeated Tsai at No. 5 (3-6, 7-5, 6-4). In other singles, Tadevosian lost to Lamm at the No. 2 spot (6-1, 6-3), and Aris Andreasian fell to Ryan Mayor on court six (6-4, 6-4). LMU played their second of three home matches to end the regular season on Friday as they hosted the UC Riverside Highlanders. The contest came down to the very last singles match, where senior Sam Tadevosian clinched the 4-3 win for the Lions. UCR took the doubles point with Joe Cartledge and Ahmad Shiraz defeating Tadevosian and Jacek Twarowski at No.1, 8-4, and John Park and Quoc Doan beating Ivan Lopez and Johan Berhof at the No. 2 position, 8-6. The Lions got a win on court three as Renzo Maggi and Nick Von Der Ahe beat UCR's Sebastian Ko and Jack Tadevosian, 8-4. In singles, Lopez was first off the court, beating Gorjan Kovacevic in straight sets (6-3, 6-2). Stefan Nikolic won his match on court six, defeating Shiraz (6-4, 6-1), and Twarowski was also victorious winning his match against Cartledge at No. 1 singles (7-6, 6-3). The deciding match point came down to the outcome on court three where Sam Tadevosian faced his brother UCR's Jack Tadevosian. Sam came out victorious, beating Jack in three sets (3-6, 7-5, 6-2) to give the Lions their ninth win of the season. At No. 4 and 5 singles, Berhof fell to Park (7-6, 6-4), and Maggi lost to Doan (6-1, 6-3). Loyola Marymount hosted No. 59 Saint Mary's Sunday in a conference match at the LMU Tennis Center. The Gaels defeated the Lions, 5-2, on Senior Day to close out the regular season. In doubles, Joel Kusnierz and Lucas Tirelli defeated Jacek Twarowski and Sam Tadevosian on court one, 8-4, and Marek Dvorak and Achim Christner beat Ivan Lopez and Johan Berhof at the No. 2 spot, 8-4, to secure the doubles point. Renzo Maggi and Nick Von Der Ahe won their match at No. 3 doubles over Andrea Zannoni and Youssef El Bouzkouri. The Gaels continued their solid play into singles where they won four of the six matches. At No. 1, Twarowski played his last match at the LMU Tennis Center, losing to Kusinerz in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Lopez fell on court two to Tirelli, also in three sets (3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Tadevosian lost his last match at LMU to Dvorak (6-4, 6-0). At the bottom half of the singles line-up, Berhof defeated Christner to give the Lions their first point of the day (7-6, 6-2), Maggi lost at No. 5 singles to Zannoni (6-1, 6-0), and Stefan Nikolic won his match against El Bouzkouri at the No. 6 slot to earn LMU their second and last point of the match (6-2, 6-3).

Lopez Leads
Freshman Ivan Lopez has had an impressive first season at LMU thus far. The Almeria, Spain native has an overall record of 20-12, going 12-8 in dual matches. Lopez began the season at No. 3 singles, earning a 5-1 record, before moving up to the No. 2 position where he is 7-7. In doubles action, Lopez has an overall mark of 5-14, jumping between the No. 2 and 3 spots.

Loyola Marymount vs. San Francisco
The Lions and the Dons were slated to play one another on Feb. 23, but rain halted the match after the doubles portion concluded. The cancelled match was not rescheduled. Last season, LMU faced the Dons twice, the first time losing at San Francisco, 7-0 in February, and the second in the second round of the WCC Championships where they were again defeated, 4-2. This year, the two teams will play each other at 11:00 a.m. in Santa Clara. Playing at the No. 1 singles spot, senior Jacek Twarowski will face USF's Thong Tu. Twarowski has an overall record of 7-23, going 4-16 in dual matches at the No. 1 position. In doubles play, he has a mark of 8-12 playing mostly at the No. 1 slot. Lopez will face the Dons' Rainer Nauchbauer at No. 2 singles, and the Lions' only other senior, Sam Tadevosian (9-23 overall, 5-15 dual) will be playing at No. 3 singles against Asaf Cohen in the first match of the tournament. At the No. 4 singles position, freshman Johan Berhof will take on San Francisco's Einar Hart. Berhof has a record of 15-9 overall, and 9-12 in dual play in his first season at LMU. Sophomore Renzo Maggi ( 9-18 overall, 6-13 dual) will play on court five against Falko Huttenberger, and freshman Stefan Nikolic ( 17-11 overall, 8-7 dual) will round out the Lions, playing at No. 6 singles against Mitch Del Rosario. In doubles play, Jacek Twarowski and Sam Tadevosian will play USF's Asaf Cohen and Falko Huttenberger at No. 1. Tadevosian and Twarowski have a record of 3-6 in dual matches at the No. 1 position. Next to them on court two, the freshman duo of Johan Berhof and Ivan Lopez will be facing Thong Tu and Rainer Nauchbauer. Berhof and Lopez have only played three doubles matches this season, going 0-3 at the No. 2 slot. At No. 3 doubles, Renzo Maggi and Nick Von Der Ahe will take on Mitch Del Rosario and Torin Ching. Maggi and Von Der Ahe have a 3-0 record at that same position this season.

Last Year At The WCC Championships
Last season, seventh-seeded Loyola Marymount dropped two thrillers at the 2007 West Coast Conference Championship hosted by the University of San Diego. The Lions dropped the first round match to second-seed Santa Clara 4-1, before falling in another nail-biter to sixth-seeded San Francisco 4-2. Despite the 4-1 final score, the Lions were just points away from evening the match at 3-3 and forcing doubles play against the then 64th-ranked Broncos. The match, which began Friday with singles play, was continued the following morning after rain had halted the competition. In their second match of the day, LMU captured the doubles point, but the Dons battled back in singles to steal the match from the Lions for a 4-2 victory. Loyola Marymount closed out the West Coast Conference Championship and the 2007 season with a 4-2 win over Gonzaga. The seventh-seeded Lions finish true to their seed after topping the eight-seeded Bulldogs. LMU finished the dual season with an 8-13 record.

LMU This Season
The Loyola Marymount men's tennis team has faced a total of nine nationally ranked teams throughout the 2007-08 season. The Lions defeated a ranked Santa Clara team to begin the season, and No. 73 BYU. A total of seven matches have ended in a close 4-3 decision, with LMU winning five of those matches. LMU is going into the WCC Championships with an overall record of 9-12, while having a 2-3 mark in West Coast Conference play.

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.