March 29, 2011
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -
Briefly:
This week the Lions will host their last home match and honor their graduating seniors, Estelle LaPorte, Shauna Morgan and Melissa Valenzuela. On their senior day, the Lions will be facing no. 33 nationally ranked West Coast Conference opponent, the Pepperdine Waves before traveling south to San Diego for a match against WCC rivals, USD on Saturday. This past week, the Lions dropped two consecutive matches to New Mexico State and SDSU. The Lions also hosted a USTA kids clinic as part of their community service and outreach program this past weekend before their SDSU match. The women are 6-11 overall this season.
Inside the Lions:
The Lions welcomed five new faces to their roster this season. They have a young, but talented team who's fresh competitive drive has already shown an impact in both their preseason play and so far in their competitive spring season. The WCC recognized the improvements to their roster, picking the Lions to finish 5th in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll even after going 0-9 in conference last year. The Lions have already seen strong play across the board. Freshmen Reka Rohonyi and Miya Jin have started for the Lions with strong singles play while Rohonyi and doubles partner Pironkova have earned a stellar doubles record at 10-7 overall. In other singles play April Bisharat, a transfer from UC Irvine, Bisharat has played at the Lion's number one position all season.
Lions to Watch:
The Lions dropped two consecutive matches this past week to Mexico State and San Diego State University. In singles play, April Bisharat earned back-to-back wins over Lousville and New Mexico State before falling to SDSU in three sets. Reka continued her strong play in singles with a win over Columbia as well; she and doubles partner Elisavet Pironkova have improved their doubles record to 10-7 this season. Rohonyi/Prionkova earned two straight wins over Lousville and New Mexico before a close 9-7 loss to SDSU. Pironkova has also improved her singles play going 2-1 in her last three matches. Ashley Anderson earned the Lions only singles win over San Diego State going 6-3, 6-3 over Olivia Colman. In other doubles play, Melissa Valenzuela and April Bisharat are now 3-3 in doubles play with two back-to-back wins as one of the only doubles wins over SDSU in doubles.
Senior Spotlight:
Estelle LaPorte is in her third season with LMU after transferring from Santa Monica College. A team captian, LaPorte has been out due to injury most of this season, but last year earned honorable mention for singles at the WCC Tournament and was 2-3 in conference play throughout the season. LaPorte is local to Los Angeles and grew up in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
In her senior season Melissa Valenzuela has started off her season with a 6-7 record in singles. Valenzuela has moved up to play at the Lion's number two position with great success this season as she had only played at the Lion's number four and five last season. Valenzuela is from Lima, Peru.
Shuana Morgan is in her fourth season with LMU Women's tennis. Out of Las Vegas, Nevada Morgan has played both singles and doubles for the Lions throughout her four seasons. Her sophomore season had a 13-11 doubles record with partner Tina Razloznik, this season and is currently 3-4 this season with Melissa Valenzuela.
