April 14, 2010

Results

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The LMU Men's Tennis team wraps up their regular season play and senior day with a huge win over no. 51 UC Irvine. The Lions who dropped the doubles decision came back in singles play with a wins from Ivan Lopez, Johan Berhof, Borja Malet and a crucial come back from Otto Sauer to win 4-3.

In doubles play, top Lions Ivan Lopez and Otto Sauer extended their winning record to 13-7 with a win over Zac Tsai and Steven Henderson of UC Irvine 8-7. The dynamic duo fought though a series of tough back and forth rallies to pull out the win. The Lions however were unable to secure the doubles point with losses on courts two and three.

In singles play, the Lions showed strong competitive drive to come back and win 4-3 overall. The Lions were once again led by top Lion Ivan Lopez. After he and partner secured another doubles win, Lopez defeated Sam Gould of UC Irvine 6-3, 6-1. Lopez now is 13-7 on the season in singles play going into the WCC tournament. Other crucial points came from senior Borja Malet on court five over Stephen Stege of UCI 6-4, 6-2 and Johan Berhof over Ryan Mayer 6-1, 6-4. With these solid victories, the Lions secured three total points for the day. After Geza Bazula and Renzo Maggi dropped their matches on courts three and four, the win came down to Otto Sauer on court two. After dropping the first set, Sauer battled back for a crucial win over Zac Tsai 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 to give the Lions the overall win.

With this big win over a top ranked team, the Lions have a great competitive momentum going into the WCC tournament next weekend. The Lions who were projected to finish middle of the pack in the conference have faced a tough schedule and they have the potential to be a dark horse contender to finish in the top three at the WCC tournament.