Feb. 8, 2010

Results

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - LMU women's tennis opened their spring season this past Sunday with a match against Santa Clara and University of Hawaii on Monday. The Lions split their matches, loosing a close 3-4 to conference opponents Santa Clara, but came back with a big win against University of Hawaii 4-3.

In both matches, the doubles point proved an important determining factor in the final score. Head Coach Jamie Sanchez said, "Winning the doubles point is so important in the format we compete in. Against Santa Clara we came close and it would have made the difference for us. However, we came back and were able to secure the point against Hawaii and earn the overall win."

On Sunday the Lions fought a difficult and competitive battle against conference opponent Santa Clara. The Lions went 3-3 against Santa Clara in singles play but were not able to stop the Broncos in doubles to earn the overall team point. Senior Jane Pringle came through with a big singles win, defeating Santa Clara's Jessica Agra 6-2, 6-2 for the Lions at the number three position. Estelle LaPorte also showed determination and came back from a 3-6 loss to win her next two sets 6-2 and 6-4, while senior Bliss Nixon gave the Lion's their final singles win in three sets 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 over Santa Clara's Cox.

In doubles play the Lions were led by number one duo, Jasmin Heckel and Bliss Nixon. They handily defeated Jessica Agra and Alex Zaniewski of Santa Clara 8-3. The Lions came close at the number two and three positions however, were not able to shut out the Broncos; seniors Jane Pringle and Audrey Bulkley went 8-2 while Elisaveta Pironkova and Melissa Valenzuela went 8-7.

On Monday the Lions were able to turn around their doubles performance and earn the team point against University of Hawaii. Once again, number one doubles team, Jasmin Heckel and Bliss Nixon led the Lions winning 8-5 over Pinterova/Nafarrete from Hawaii. In another close one on court three, Melissa Valenzuela and Elisaveta Pironkova were able to pull out an 8-6 win over the Poljakova/Tadaki of Hawaii. With these two wins the Lions were able to secure the doubles point that ultimately gave them the overall win.

In singles play against University of Hawaii, Elisaveta Pironkova had a big win against Katarina Poljakova, shutting her out 6-0 in the first set and 6-4 in the second. Once again both Estelle LaPorte and Bliss Nixon came through for the Lions with big singles wins. LaPorte went 7-5, 6-4 over VandenBergh for a win, while Nixon came back from a 4-6 loss in the first set, and fought through to win 6-4, 6-4.

Head Coach Jamie Sanchez said, "Both Estelle and Bliss showed great competitive spirit over the past two days. Against Hawaii, Bliss came back to win in the third set after being down twice, that showed a lot of leadership and heart." With these performances, both LaPorte and Nixon start their seasons with winning records in singles play.

Next up the Lions will face UC Irvine this Thursday at 1:30 at the LMU Tennis Center.