Feb. 21, 2012
LOS ANGELES -
BRIEFLY
The Lions first match this week will be against UC Riverside on February 23 at 2:00 p.m at the SRC Tennis Courts in Riverside. LMU will face No. 58 UC Irvine at the LMU Tennis Center on February 25 at 10:00 a.m.
LION TRACKS
LMU women's tennis team came out firing against No. 26 South Carolina, but was unable to hold on to early leads as the Gamecocks won 7-0. The match, held at the University of San Diego's Hogan Tennis Center, was competitve as the Lions held at least a tie in all three doubles matches before falling to South Carolina.
The doubles competition saw three close matches. Elisaveta Pironkova and Reka Rohonyi rallied from three points down to tie the match at 5-5 and 6-6 before losing to Alawi and Stojic 8-6. Ashley Anderson and Tory Parravi were defeated by Pereria and Popova 8-4. Anderson/Parravi were up 2-1 early in the match before the Gamecocks duo came back to win it. Claudia Razzeto and Miya Jin started the match well splitting the first six games before losing to Morgina and Kanakova 8-3.
South Carolina carried the momentum of their comebacks in doubles into the singles round. Claudia Razzeto lost to No. 59 Jaklin Alawi 6-0, 6-4. No. 119 Dijana Stojic defeated Miya Jin 6-3, 6-3. Ashley Anderson fell to Popova 6-2, 6-0. April Bisharat had an opportunity to defeat a ranked opponent in No. 29 Anya Morgina, but was unable to close the match losing 6-1, 3-6, (10-3). Tory Parravi was beaten by Kanakova 6-2, 7-5. In the final singles match, team captain Elisaveta Pironkova went to a fifth set for the fifth time in six matches, before falling to Pereira 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Pironkova is 3-3 in her last six singles match.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
This week's spotlight is on team captain, Elisaveta Pironkova, a Senior Communications major from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. This Spring season, Pironkova has won the last three out of four singles matches played. She had big wins against nationally ranked teams, No. 38 Long Beach and No. 44 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
COACH SANCHEZ
Jamie Sanchez is a member of the LMU Hall of Fame. In his career, Sanchez was a fouryear letterwinner in men's tennis and a member of the LMU Hall of Fame 1969 National Champion football team. Sanchez started the LMU women's tennis program and has served as the head coach since inception. He is a three-time WCC Coach of the Year.
ABOUT UC RIVERSIDE
On February 17 at the SRC Tennis Courts, the Highlanders dropped a 6-1 decision to #45 Long Beach State. UC Riverside's Jamie Raney came up with a big win at No. 1 singles over a ranked opponent. The UC Riverside women's tennis team traveled to Las Vegas, NV for a neutral match against Utah State, but fell 6-1. The team competed in its third match on February 19, falling 7-0 to No. 37 ranked UNLV at the Fertitta Tennis Complex in Sin City. After last week's play, UC Riverside has an overall record of 2-5 and Big West Conference record of 0-2.
ABOUT UC IRVINE
UC Irvine is ranked No. 58 according to Campbell's/ITA College Tennis ranking. Last week on February 18, UC Irvine kept up the good play with a big-time win over No. 48 San Diego State on the road, 5-2, at the Aztec Tennis Center. The No. 58 `Eaters posted its second win over a ranked school after beating No. 75 Wyoming. On February 16, they lost by one to No. 29 Pepperdine making it three matches in a row against ranked squads with a record of 2-1. Thus far the Irvine women's tennis team holds a season record of 4-4.
WCC PRESEASON POLL
The Pepperdine's women's tennis team was picked to finish first in the 2012 West Coast Conference preseason poll, as voted on by the conference coaches. The Waves won the WCC Championships last season. Pepperdine tallied 59 points and four first place votes from the coaches around the conference. Of the tope five teams, four are nationally ranked by the ITA in No. 26 Pepperdine, No. 32 San Diego, No. 41 Saint Mary's, and No. 71 Santa Clara.
The women's preseason all conference team was distributed among four teams. Pepperdine claimed two on the list in sophomore Ale Granillo and junior Arianna Colffer. Saint Mary's also had two players on the list in junior Catherine Isip and sophomore Jenny Jullien. The remaining two spots went to San Diego's Stephanie Hoffpauir and Santa Clara's Katie Le, both of whom were 2011 All-WCC Second Team honorees.
-GO LIONS-
