This blog is written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. Ray also writes sports for the Los Angeles Loyolan and is a leader of the ROAR Student Section. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance at the week that was in Lion Sports.

After a long road trip that included a weekend in Alaska over the break, the men's basketball team finally returned home last week for two games at Gersten Pavilion. Thursday night against Long Beach St., the Lions came out firing and went up by double digits early. But a 49ers comeback ended the hard-fought match giving LMU the 73-70 loss. Saturday the Lions took on Portland St. for the annual homecoming game. A pregame tailgate and t-shirt giveaway got the LMU fan base behind their team and helped them to a 66-56 win and a 4-4 record.

The women's basketball team found similar results in their first week back after their Thanksgiving tournament. At home Wednesday, the Lions easily handled Colorado St. and won 69-52. LMU then headed across town to face UCLA on Sunday, where they lost 86-66 to the No. 19 Bruins.

The volleyball team played their first postseason match since 2005 on Friday when they went to Palo Alto to face Western Kentucky. After receiving the unexpected bid to the tournament the week before, the Lions were thrilled to extend their season. Unfortunately the No. 17 Hill Toppers (32-3) were too much to handle as they swept LMU 25-23, 25-19, 25-17.

Three LMU swimmers were invited to compete at the U.S. Winter National Championships last weekend in Austin, Texas. Senior Camille Hopp appeared in two events, the 100 breaststroke, in which she recorded a season-best time, and the 50 freestyle. Junior Rachel Dekar raced in the 100 breaststroke as well while freshman Kristen Clarno swam in the 200 intermediate medley. All three swimmers finished their preliminary race in the top 50. The event featured the top swimmers in the country, which included a number of Olympians.