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Lions Win Betty Werner Cup
March 25, 2009
Los Angeles, Calif - On a beautiful day at LMU Tennis Center, Loyola Marymount Men's tennis (4-12) hosted the first annual Betty Werner Cup. The Lions made Betty proud and took home the trophy with a victory over Dartmouth 4-3. The Lions hosted their largest home crowd all season. The LMU community came out to show their support and pay their respects to the late senior associate athletics director. International Student Services, members of the athletics department, coaches, and student athletes from women's soccer, women's water polo, men's water polo, men's soccer, women's basketball, volleyball, cross country, track, and golf, cheered on the victors. The tennis community also came out to show their support for a beloved member. A representative from the Southern California Tennis Association as well as Jane Goodman, director in charge of umpires for Southern California as well as the NCAA National Championships, were in attendance. After LMU Athletics Director Dr. William Husak gave lovely remarks on how important Betty was to LMU and the tennis program, the match begun with the doubles round. With a record setting amount of fans, the Lions did not start the match off on the right note. Dartmouth won a close doubles round 2-1. Two of the three matches went into tiebreakers. LMU won the tiebreaker in the No. 1 singles position. Borja Malet and Renzo Maggi took home LMU's only doubles victory. Malet and Maggi came from behind to defeat the Big Green's Daniel Friedman and Stephen Grief 9-8. Ivan Lopez and Nick Von Der Ahe participated in the other tiebreaking match for LMU. In the No. 3 doubles position Lopez and Der Ahe couldn't keep the close lead and fell to Chris Ho and Justin Tzou 9-8.
After a short break between rounds LMU came back to win the match in singles. The Lions took home the first four singles matches and the victory. Ivan Lopez started it all. In the No. 1 singles position Lopez defeated Dartmouth's Friedman 7-6, 6-2 to tie the match 1-1 and keep his individual winning streak alive at five. Borja Malet put LMU ahead with his No. 5 singles match. After easily winning the first set, Malet held on in the second to defeat Ari Gayer 6-2, 6-4 for his third win in a row to remain undefeated in the No. 5 position. Johan Berhof added to the lead in the No. 2 spot. Berhof beat Dartmouth's Greif 6-2, 6-2 to even his record at 8-8 for the season. Renzo Maggi sealed the victory for LMU. Maggi took home the No. 3 match. The junior from Rossmoor, CA, defeated Curtis Roby 6-3, 6-4 for the team victory and the Betty Werner cup. After LMU received the trophy, individual awards were announced. LMU's Lopez received the MVP honor while Dartmouth's Curtis Roby won the sportsmanship award. LMU Men's Tennis will end their season on the road. The Lions will travel to Utah for three matches this weekend. Loyola Marymount will face BYU on Friday, Utah on Saturday, and finished out the week with Eastern Washington on Sunday. Loyola Marymount 4, Dartmouth 3 Singles competition 1. Ivan Lopez (LMU) def. Daniel Friedman (DART) 7-6, 6-2 2. Johan Berhof (LMU) def. Stephen Greif (DART) 6-2, 6-2 3. Renzo Maggi (LMU) def. Curtis Roby (DART) 6-3, 6-4 4. Justin Tzou (DART) def. Geza Bazula (LMU) 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 5. Borja Malet (LMU) def. Ari Gayer (DART) 6-2, 6-4 6. Chris Ho (DART) def. Aris Andreasian (LMU) 7-6, 6-3 Doubles competition 1. Borja Malet/Renzo Maggi (LMU) def. Daniel Friedman/Stephen Greif (DART) 9-8 2. Curtis Roby/Ari Gayer (DART) def. Geza Bazula/Johan Berhof (LMU) 8-3 3. Chris Ho/Justin Tzou (DART) def. Ivan Lopez/Nick Von Der Ahe (LMU) 9-8 |
