April 9, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Briefly
Loyola Marymount women's tennis will play their final regular season matches this weekend as they travel to No. 37 Long Beach State on Friday April 11 and then to 17th-ranked Fresno State on Sunday, April 13. The Lions will head to the West Coast Conference Championships the following weekend, April 18-20, in Moraga, Calif.

LMU This Season
The Lions has been counting on 2007 WCC Player of the Year, senior Pavla Mesterova, and fifth-year senior Tamara Tanner for leadership this season. They also returned four sophomores in Bliss Nixon, Audrey Bulkley, Audra Silman and Maria Garcia-Planas Albert, and two more seniors, Natalie Tejada and Shawnell Russell. In addition, head coach Jamie Sanchez welcomed three freshmen, Jasmin Heckel, Caroline Nothnagel and Shauna Morgan, along with one transfer student, whose collegiate tennis experience has proven to be invaluable. Junior Tina Razloznik (University of Arizona) brings two seasons of Division I experience to the Lions. "The biggest plus is that we have a good player at the top of the line-up. Having that top player is an indication of any good Division I team. We also have a good amount of depth, which is the second ingredient of a good team," Sanchez said. "We are tough and strong going after the number one spot. The team feeds off of the tenacity and experience that players like Pavla, Tamara and Tina bring". Over the course of the spring 2008 season, the Lions will have faced a total of 13 teams that appear in the national rankings.

Last Week Recap
The Loyola Marymount women's tennis team hosted Cal State Northridge in a non-conference match Thursday at the LMU Tennis Center. The Lions won the doubles point and continued their solid play into singles to cruise to a 6-1 victory over the Matadors. The Lions started the match strong with two wins in doubles, to give them a 1-0 lead over the Matadors. Pavla Mesterova and Tamara Tanner defeated Victoria Brymer and Canna Furuta at No. 1, 8-2, and Bliss Nixon and Jasmin Heckel won their match on court three against Kristy Fournell and Sandra Kukla, 8-1. At No. 2 doubles, Tina Razloznik and Shauna Morgan lost to Kanykey Kolchumanova and Brooke Doane, 8-3. The Lions carried their momentum into singles play as 67th-ranked Mesterova, recently named WCC Singles Player of the Month for March, won her fifth consecutive match at No. 1 singles defeating Brymer, 6-1, 6-2. She improves her record to 12-5 on the season. Tanner got the victory on court two as her opponent Kolchumanova had to retire due to injury (4-0 ret.), and Razloznik won her match at No. 3 singles beating Kukla, 6-2, 6-2. Heckel won her match at the No. 4 slot, defeating Furuta in straight sets (6-3, 6-3), while Nixon earned the Lions a point on court six, beating CSUN's Whitney Paluch, 6-1, 7-5. The Matadors earned their only point of the day at No. 5 singles as Doane took the match from Morgan in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8. LMU hosted UC Santa Barbara in their last home match of the season Saturday afternoon. The Lions jumped to a 1-0 lead, winning the doubles point, and carried their momentum into singles play to take a 5-2 victory over the Gauchos. The Lions won the doubles point to begin the day with Pavla Mesterova and Tamara Tanner defeating Marta Simic and Charlotte Scatliffe at No. 1, 9-8, and Tina Razloznik and Caroline Nothnagel winning their match on court three against Brittany Kausen and Tova Hausman, 8-5. At No. 2 doubles, Bliss Nixon and Jasmin Heckel lost to Jill Damion and Asagi Onaga, 8-1. The Lions continued to play well in singles action. Razloznik was the first off the court, easily beating Onaga at No. 3 (6-0, 6-1), followed by Tanner who won her match at the No. 2 position against Damion (6-1, 6-4). Heckel defeated Scatliffe on court four (6-3, 6-3) to clinch the victory for the Lions. 67th-ranked Mesterova won her match in three sets defeating Simic at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 4-6, 10-7. At No. 5 singles, Morgan lost her match to UCSB's Hausman (6-4, 6-2), while Kausen defeated Nixon on court six, 6-1, 7-5.

About #37 Long Beach State
Senior Stephanie Bengson tied the 21-year old school record for singles wins and helped the 49ers clinch the top seed at the Big West Tournament in process, as No. 37-ranked Long Beach State (14-5) swept past Cal Poly, 7-0. Bengson defeated Steffi Wong, 6-3, 6-3 in singles play to tie Havaja Frljuckic's (1984-87) 21-year old record of 70 wins and also clinched the match for the 49ers, putting LBSU 4-0 en route to the sweep. Bengson also won in doubles play, teaming with partner Hannah Grady, to beat Cal Poly's team of Brittany Blalock and Wong 8-4. Cal Poly's team was ranked No. 52, while the 49ers top doubles team checked in at No. 53. Grady, ranked No. 101, also won in singles play at the No. 1 position, winning 6-2, 6-0, as did Stephanie Jeanes. Bengson, Grady and Jeanes are all undefeated against the rest of the Big West this season. Last season saw the Lions defeat 44th-ranked Long Beach State at the LMU Tennis Center, 4-3. Jenny Hilt-Costello has been the head women's tennis coach at Long Beach State for ten years.

About #17 Fresno State
The 17th-ranked Fresno State women's tennis team was edged 4-3 by the Pepperdine Waves on Sunday at the Wathen Tennis Center. Despite winning the doubles point, the Bulldogs were only able to capture two singles wins as Pepperdine rallied for the victory. The first team to finish with a win in doubles was 30th- ranked Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova on court No. 2. They won their match early with an 8-4 victory over 49th-ranked Braverman and Bhargava.The doubles point was decided on court No. 3 when Danon Beatty and Jacqueline Haskett beat Rice and Bandere 8-5, to secure the point for Fresno State. Winning the doubles point gave the Bulldogs the advantage and led them into the singles matches leading Pepperdine 1-0. Ranked No. 14 in the country and playing at the No. 1 spot, Melanie Gloria came out strong with a win over 77th-ranked Sylvia Kosakowski 6-1, 6-4. Petukhova ranked 21st in the country was victorious on court No. 2 over 74th-ranked Anamika Bhargava, beating her 6-4, 6-4. Melanie Gloria won the WAC Player of the Week for the week of April 7. Simon Thibodea is in his fourth season as head coach of the Bulldogs.

Mesterova Earns WCC Player Of The Month
Senior Pavla Mesterova has been named West Coast Conference Singles Player of the Month for March, it was announced by the Conference office last Tuesday. Mesterova went 5-2 in No. 1 singles play with two wins coming over nationally ranked opponents. Mesterova won all five of her matches in straight sets, including her wins over No. 81 Sophie Kobuch from the University of Hawai'i and 117th ranked Jessica Hoath from Saint Mary's College. Her only two losses came against No. 53 Jenni Heinser from San Francisco, and 63rd-ranked Sylvia Kosakowski from Pepperdine. This is Mesterova's third consecutive Singles Player of the Month selection.

Lions In The Rankings
Loyola Marymount women's tennis has been in the ITA National team rankings for most of the 2007-08 spring season. The Lions started the year at 64th in the nation, but have fallen out of the rankings in the most recent ITA Poll. Senior Pavla Mesterova's consistent play so far this season has earned her a spot in the ITA women's individual singles rankings. Mesterova sits at No. 67 out of the top-125 singles players in the country. She earns her spot with a record of 13-5 at No. 1 singles, while beating four nationally-ranked opponents, No. 41 Katrina Zheltova from Sacramento State, 71st-ranked Julia Trunk from San Diego State, No. 81 Sophie Kobuch from Hawaii and 117th-ranked Jessica Hoath from Saint Mary's.

ITA Poll
It has become an annual expectation for the Loyola Marymount women's tennis program. The Lions were ranked No. 64 in the first poll of the spring 2008 season by the Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings administered by the ITA. Since 2000, LMU has held a NCAA National Ranking in seven of the last nine years. The Lions are coming off a third place finish (tied with San Diego) in the 2007 season after rain dominated the WCC Championships and halted the match.

Mesterova Already Makes Her Mark
The Lions roster returns two players who earned All-WCC honors on either the singles or doubles side. Leading the way is senior Pavla Mesterova, who earned the 2007 WCC Player of the Year honor, working her way to a No. 40 preseason ranking entering the 2007-08 season. Last season, she led the Lions with a 27-6 record, going 19-3 in dual matches at No. 1 singles. The 27 wins rank fifth all-time in LMU history for victories in a single season, while her .818 winning percentage is the best in program history. She is currently ranked 14th in the West Region. Mesterova also earned first-team All-WCC honors in doubles with former teammate Robyn Baker. Since the beginning of the 2007-08 women's tennis season, Mesterova has been on a roll, having been selected to compete in the Riviera All-American Tournament followed by the ITA National Indoor Championships. Her play in the ITA Regionals made her eligible for the at-large bid for the Indoor Championships. The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships is the second of three national tournaments for singles and doubles during the collegiate tennis season. The other two include the ITA All-American Championships in October and the NCAA Championships in May. Playing in the tournament marked a first for Mesterova and for LMU, since it is the first time in her career, and in school history that the Lions have had a representative selected to play in the Indoor National Tournament.

Tanner Is Back
Senior Tamara Tanner returns for her fifth and final year of eligibility for the Lions. After earning honorable mention All-WCC honors in doubles play last year, Tanner's experience and leadership will serve a key role in leading the Lions this season.

Head Coach Jamie Sanchez
Jamie Sanchez is in his 33rd season as head coach of the Loyola Marymount women's tennis program. Sanchez, the program's only coach since its inception, began coaching the team in 1975 and has posted a career record of 418-378. In 2002, Sanchez guided the Lions to their first ever WCC Championship with a 4-2 win over Pepperdine. For the first time in program history, Sanchez and the Lions advanced to the NCAA playoffs as a team, and were represented in the Individual NCAA playoffs with the doubles duo of Andrea Lord and Angelina Zdorovytska. He was named the WCC Coach of the Year for the second straight year in 2002, and in 2006 he earned his third honor.