March 10, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Briefly
Loyola Marymount men's tennis hosts four matches this week, starting off with 61st-ranked Duke on Monday at 1:30 p.m. The Lions will then host Yale Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and Montana State Friday also at 1:30 p.m., before they finish off the week with a visit from WCC rival Gonzaga Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

LMU This Season
The young Lions will be counting on their five returners for leadership this season. Coming back for LMU are seniors Sam Tadevosian and Jacek Twarowski, along with sophomores, Renzo Maggi, Dmitry Popov and Nick Von Der Ahe. In addition, first-year head coach Brad Sceney also welcomes four freshmen, Aris Andreasian (Glendale, CA), Johan Berhof (Kullavik, Sweden), Ivan Lopez (Almeria, Spain) and Stefan Nikolic (Belgrade, Serbia). "Our newcomers are going to have to be ready to perform straight away and I believe they are," Sceney said. "Also our sophomores are going to have to step up a notch from last year and be ready for plenty of playing time. Our team goal is to finish in the top-4 in the conference, last year we took 7th place." "We are currently unranked but we have every opportunity to achieve a national ranking with the schedule that we have," Sceney added. "We face two top-20 teams which will be a great test, and six other teams that are ranked, so the opportunities are there". Over the course of the spring 2008 season, the Lions will face a total of eight teams that appear in the national rankings.

Last Match Recap
The Loyola Marymount men's tennis team was defeated by the 48th-ranked Arizona Wildcats 7-0 at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center Friday February 29. In doubles play, the Wildcats swept all three matches over the Lions. At the No. 1 slot, U of A's Christen and Goldman defeated Sam Tadevosian and Renzo Maggi, 8-4, Jacek Twarowski and Johan Berhof lost to Alcala and Hazi on court two, 8-2, while Ivan Lopez and Nick Von Der Ahe lost to Carrasco and Metham, 8-2. Ahead 1-0 in the match, the Wildcats did not let up in singles play winning each of their singles matches in straight sets. At the No. 1 spot, 79th-ranked Jay Goldman beat Twarowski in straight sets (6-2, 6-1). Lopez lost on court two to Andre Carrasco (6-3, 6-1) and Tadevosian lost to Bruno Alcala (6-3, 7-6). In more singles, Maggi was defeated by Zimmer on court four (6-3, 6-1), Hazi beat Berhof (6-1, 6-4) and freshman Stefan Nikolic lost to Metham at the No. 6 spot (6-4, 6-3). The Lions then traveled to Tempe on Saturday where they were defeated 6-1 by Arizona State. Starting off with doubles, the team of T.J. Bellama and Matt Brooklyn handed Sam Tadevosian and Jacek Twarowski an 8-4 loss. At No. 2, Andres Arango and Harry Skinner beat Renzo Maggi and Ivan Lopez, 8-2. ASU's Wes Miller and John Nanosky II defeated Johan Berhof and Nick Von Der Ahe, 8-6 in the No. 3 spot. In singles, Twarowski was swept in two sets by Brooklyn, losing 6-0, 6-2. Playing in the number two spot, Arango earned a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lopez, while Juan Carlos Rebaza defeated Tadevosian 6-3, 6-2 on court three. At the bottom half of the singles lineup, Maggi lost to Miller (6-1 6-1) and Aris Andreasian was defeated by Nanosky (6-1, 6-0). The Lions got their only win of the day at the No. 5 spot as ASU's Skinner had to retire early in his match to give Berhof the win. After the trip to Arizona, LMU falls to 4-4 on the season.

About #61 Duke
The Blue Devils received another tough loss last Wednesday as they lost, 4-3, to No. 18 Virginia Commonwealth at the Thalhimer Tennis Center in Richmond, Va. Duke got off to a strong start by winning the doubles point for the fourth time in seven matches. Dylan Arnould and Alex Stone earned their first victory over a ranked opponent this season as they defeated No. 36 Martin Schulhauser and Thibaut Charron 8-6 at the No. 2 position. The Blue Devils also won at the No. 3 position as two freshmen, Reid Carleton and Jared Pinsky played together for the first time and won 8-5 against Bobo Delemark and Stepan Siska. The Blue Devils took a 3-0 lead in the match by winning the first two singles contests. Carleton, ranked No. 39 in the ITA singles rankings, played in the top spot for the first time in his career and defeated Schulhauser 3-6, 6-0, 6-4. Carleton leads Duke on the season with a 16-5 overall record and 6-1 mark in dual match play. He has now won five straight singles matches. At the No. 2 position, No. 48 David Goulet picked up his third victory over a ranked opponent with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 98 Damien Lacombe. Goulet improves his overall record to 9-3 and is 5-2 in dual match play. VCU would rally back with wins in crucial situations. Emil Lindgren won a first-set tiebreaker at the No. 3 spot and Georges-Alexandre Israel pulled out a three-set match victory at No. 5 as the Rams won the final four singles matches to improve to 11-3 on the year. Duke dropped to 2-5 for the season after losing their fifth straight match. Two Duke players are currently ranked in singles. Reid Carleton, a freshman from Naples, Fla., made a big leap from No. 85 to No. 39 this week after defeating No. 18 Kellen Damico of Texas at the No. 2 position. Carleton leads the Blue Devils in singles victories this season with a 16-5 overall record and is 6-1 in dual match play. He has won his last five singles contests, including two victories over ranked opponents. Senior David Goulet is ranked No. 48 in this week's rankings. He is 9-3 in singles action this year with a 5-2 mark in dual matches. Jay Lapidus is in his 18th year as the head men's tennis coach at Duke University and holds an overall coaching record of 362-113.

About Yale
The Bulldogs won their fourth straight match with a 4-3 victory over Army in their last match (Mar. 2), in West Point. Yale swept all three doubles matches to take the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles, senior Rory Green and junior Jeff Dawson defeated Eddie Kang and Sean Harris 8-4. Freshman Calvin Bennett and junior Josh Lederman defeated Chris Albornoz and Phil Muhawi 9-8 (5) at No. 2 doubles. At. No. 3 doubles, junior Michael Caldwell and sophomore Connor Dawson defeated Tripp Johnson and Jordan Girdley 8-4. After dropping the first set 6-4 at No. 2 singles, Caldwell took the next took 7-6 (3), 6-4 to defeat Kang. At No. 3 singles, Green defeated Harris in straight sets 6-0, 6-4. Connor Dawson managed to defeated Johnson 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4 singles. After ten days off, the Bulldogs head to the bluff to face the Lions on Wednesday. Last season, the Lions traveled to Princeton, beating Yale by a score of 5-2. Yale is 4-2 so far this season. Alex Dorato begins his 16th year as the Cary Leeds Head Coach of Men's Tennis at Yale.

About Montana State
Kyle McDoanld had an outstanding match, but the Bobcat men's tennis team fell 6-1 to BYU Saturday night. Montana State senior Kyle McDonald had an outstanding performance against Mountain West Conference power Brigham Young, winning at No. 1 singles with a dominating 6-2, 6-0 decision. McDonald also combined with Jakob Dybala to post an 8-6 win over the Cougars at No. 1 doubles. Despite the two victories, BYU posted a 6-1 win over the Bobcats, Friday night. Montana State (5-5) also received a strong performance from Pawel Turzanski, who dropped a hard-fought three set decision, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, to Thomas Shubert. The Lions beat the Bobcats at Montana State last season, 4-3. Mike Phillips is in his eighth season at Montana State. He is a four-time Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. Phillips has led MSU to three Big Sky titles and NCAA Championship appearances.

About Gonzaga
The Gonzaga University men's tennis team swept all six singles matches as the Zags defeated the University of Northern Colorado 7-0 Friday at the Spokane Racquet Club. GU dropped only one match all evening, the No. 1 doubles contest. The Bears' (1-3) Paul Tschetter and Vinnie Fallico earned the lone victory over the day after posting an 8-7 victory over Zack Radetzky and Stefan Feddersen. At No. 2, the Bulldogs' Charles Adams and Roman Dojcak earned a 8-5 win over Austin Nunn and Ryan Dunn, while Cooper Fratt and Conor Feeney downed Eric Morin and Andrew Buzaku 8-3 at No. 3. In singles play, Gonzaga ran the table as Feddersen, Dojcak, Radetzky, Feeney, Fratt and Adams all posted wins in straight-sets. Feddersen earned a No. 1 victory over Fallico 7-5, 6-2, while Dojcak earned a victory at No. 2 over Tschetter 6-2, 6-2. At No. 3, Radetzky earned a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Nunn and Feeney defeated Dunn 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4. Fratt earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Morina at No. 5, while Adams rounded out play with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6 over Buzaku. The Zags will hit the courts again Tuesday as they open a seven match road span, including four matches next week in California. The Bulldogs are 5-6 on the season under third-year head coach Peter MacDonald. Last season, the Lions took the victory over the Zags at home, 6-1.

Head Coach Brad Sceney
Sceney comes to the bluff after serving as the Director of Tennis at The Paseo Club in Valencia, CA., and enjoying an impressive collegiate career at Pepperdine from 1995-98. "We are excited to add Brad to our LMU family," LMU Athletic Director, Bill Husak said. "Brad has championship experience, both collegiately in the West Coast Conference, and professionally on the ATP Tour. We look forward to watching his leadership in action as he begins his work with our program." An All-American while at Pepperdine, Sceney helped the Waves to a top-10 ranking each of his four seasons in Malibu. His mark of 85 career singles victories is still the Pepperdine record today. In 1996, Sceney won the All-American Doubles Championship. Following his collegiate career, Sceney spent time in the professional tennis ranks, earning rankings in the top-600 in singles and top-300 in doubles after just one year on the ATP Tour. "I am excited to return to the collegiate athletics world," Sceney said. "LMU is a fantastic place to work and play, with a beautiful campus and great facilities that provide the basis for a top tennis program. I look forward to working toward that end with the team and staff." Sceney, a native of Australia, won the 1992 Australian Open Junior Doubles Championship. He was the second-ranked junior in Australia from 1986-1992 and was a member of the country's junior national team. For the last nine years, Sceney has worked with Topseed Tennis Academy, a corporation that owns and operates three tennis clubs and one sports club in Southern California. Hired as a tennis instructor in 1999, Sceney advanced to the title of Director of Tennis at one of the company's sites, The Paseo Club in Valencia, CA. There, he manages a staff of 10 tennis professionals and coordinates the tennis program for approximately 3,500 members.