March 30, 2010

Los Angeles, Calif. - Briefly Coming off a close victory over new Mexico State, the LMU women's tennis team could not hold off top UCSB falling 5-2. The Lions have a tough schedule ahead of them with matches against top conference opponent Saint Mary's and University of Arizona.

Lions to Watch The Lions had a big win over new Mexico State however dropped a match to no. 75 UCSB this past week. Senior Jane Pringle has been playing very consistently for the Lions and is sure to be competitive and looking for some wins this next week. Pringle has recently moved up in the Lions line up, with Jasmin Heckel and Pringle in the Lion's top positions they should stay competitive. Teammate Estelle LaPorte moved up to play at the no. 2 and 3 positions. Laporte is 5-7 overall this season in singles play. Bliss Nixon also has had big singles victories this season and has come back after being down a set to win in the tiebreaker which can be a crucial point for the Lions. Elisaveta Pironkova has the versatility to move around in the Lion's line up and play both doubles and singles and pulled out a big win against UCSB this past weekend. At the number six position, Audrey Bulkley earned her first singles win for the season over Minnesota. Junior Jasmin Heckel had a big win over no. 84 Suzie Matzenauer of Cal poly in singles play on February 14th and will be looking to regain a that competitive edge this week. in doubles the Lions have been trying a couple different Combinations to stay competitive. This week the Lions will face two ranked teams in Saint Mary's and U of Arizona before heading to Pepperdine for an away match

Saint Mary's Gaels The Gaels are currently ranked 60th nationally and have a 8-5 overall record with wins over UCSB, San Francisco, Santa Clara and portland. They are in first in the WCC standings having defeated all three conference teams they have faced this season.

Arizona Wildcats The Wildcats started off their season with a five straight wins and are 10-5 this season overall. Arizona has defeated both San Diego and Saint Mary's from the WCC earlier this season and will face Stanford University and Cal State Northridge before facing the Lions on Saturday April 3rd at 12:00pm. As part of the Pac-Ten conference the Wildcats are ranked no. 55 nationally as of March 23rd and sophomore natasha Marks is ranked 90th in singles.

USTA Kid's Day The LMU women's tennis program will be participating in the annual USTA kids day April 3rd. LMU will host kids from the community for a day of fun on the tennis courts. Kids will participate in a tennis clinic, lunch and day of getting to know the LMU tennis team. The event is co-sponsored by the Southern California Tennis Association where kids from the local community will come to LMU to meet both athletes on both the men's and women's tennis teams and learn about being a Division 1 athlete at a Jesuit University. Women's head Coach Jamie Sanchez said, "This is a great opportunity for kids to come on campus and get another aspect of what it means to go to college and in this case what it means to be a Division intercollegiate athlete. not only does USTA campus kids day expose young athletes to the excitement of college tennis, but it also is a great way for LMU athletes to live out the Jesuit mission of service and education of the whole person."