March 31, 2011

Results

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Today the Lion's hosted their last home match and senior day against the Pepperdine Waves. The Lions honored three graduating seniors, Estelle LaPorte, Melissa Valenzuela and Shauna Morgan who all played their last home match this afternoon. The team fell 7-0 overall to top ranked conference opponent Pepperdine University, but recorded a big win in doubles where April Bisharat and Melissa Valenzuela defeated no.34 Zalameda/Bhargava 8-2.

In doubles the Lions were led by a win by April Bisharat and Melissa Valenzuela on court one. Valenzuela and Bisharat defeated no.34 nationally ranked Zalameda/Bhargava 8-2 for the Lions sole win on the day against the top nationally ranked duo and conference rival. This was Bisharat and Valenzuela's second straight win in doubles defeated a top nationally ranked doubles team. Last week they had a win over SDSU's no.51 Ellison/Ellison and then kept this strong play to knock off Pepperdine today. On the other two courts, the Lions were unable hold off the waves falling 8-4 on court two and 8-6 on court three.

In singles the Lions were blanked by the waves. Melissa Valenzuela fell to Ale Granillo 6-0, 6-1 on court two. Miya Jin came close to coming back in the second set ataisnt Anamika Bhargava, but fell 6-4, 6-3. Freshman teammate Reka Rohonyi was defeated by Marie Zalameda of Pepperdine 6-3, 6-1 and Elisaveta Pironkova fell 6-1, 6-0 to Khunpak Issara. Finally Shauna Morgan was topped by Megan Moore, 6-2, 6-2. The Lions dropped the match 7-0.

Next up the Lions will take the road to face conference rival University of San Diego this Saturday at 1:00 pm. With only four matches left before they take to the WCC Tournament in San Diego, the Lions will be looking to close out their season strong.