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LMU Hosts First Annual Betty Werner Cup
March 23, 2009
Los Angeles, Calif - Briefly Loyola Marymount Men's Tennis will host the first annual Betty Werner Cup this Wednesday at LMU Tennis Center. The Lions will face Dartmouth Big Green at 1:30 p.m. The match will be played in the memory of the late LMU Senior Associate Athletics Director who lost her battle with cancer this past August.
About Betty Growing up in the heart of Texas, Werner knew what her passion was at a young age. Battling anybody she could in any sport was just the beginning to an illustrious 40-year career that paved the way for both male and female athletes today. Her love for tennis started it all. At Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, the women's tennis coach saw her playing at a boys' basketball practice and suggested she play on the tennis team. She did and an athletic career was born. She went on to have a successful career, playing No. 1 singles and doubles, playing the Texas Tennis Circuit and earning the Dallas Tennis Association Sportsmanship Award in 1964. Werner graduated high school in 1966 and went on to the University of Tulsa where she played tennis. She played No. 3 singles from 1967-68 and No. 1 singles from 1969-70 and finished in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science. She went straight to graduate school and finished with a Master of Education at the University of Missouri in 1971. She then went on to play tennis after college and was ranked No. 1 in women's doubles and No. 3 in women's singles in Louisiana in 1971-72. She also claimed several international championships in racquetball, and was hired at Maryville College as an instructor of health and physical education. She was then hired as the Women's Athletics Director at Drake in 1974. She was the youngest female administrator in collegiate athletics history (at the time) and the first female administrator at the University. In 1979, when President Jimmy Carter implemented Title IX throughout the collegiate level, women were given the opportunity to have scholarships for the first time at universities around the country and Werner was at the center of it all.
In 1982, she was appointed to the committee of the NCAA's flagship sport, women's basketball. She served on the groundbreaking committee for five years. While with the group, she was the CBS Liaison, bringing women's athletics at the collegiate level to national television for the first time. "Betty has done so much in establishing opportunities for young people - specifically women," said Athletics Director Dr. William Husak. "Everyone you talk to will tell you she did it with so much love. Betty will be deeply missed. Words do not do justice in describing how wonderful she was to so many." Werner was hired to oversee all internal operations of the athletics department at LMU in 2000. During her time, the Lions saw unprecedented success, including the program's first conference titles in women's tennis, women's basketball and men's golf, and the first-ever NCAA tournament appearances for men's and women's soccer - all sports she supervised. As her career took new heights, Werner continued to stay involved with the sport that started it all. Werner served as chairperson on the NCAA Joint Men's and Women's Tennis Committee. Under her direction, Werner brought both the men's and women's tennis championship to the same competitive site, bringing a heightened marketing exposure to the sport. "Betty was a strong leader and active participant in the NCAA tennis community for many years. We all miss her tenacity and forthright opinion that help shape college tennis for the past decade." Dartmouth Head Coach Chuck Kinyon said. On August 16, 2008, LMU and the tennis world lost a dear friend. Betty Werner passed away at her home in Torrance, CA after a five-month battle with cancer. She was 59.
About LMU Once again Loyola Marymount Men's Tennis (3-12) will be sporting a young line up this season. Veteran juniors Renzo Maggi, Dmitry Popov and Nick Von Der Ahe will lead them. "We have a young group of guys this year. " Maggi said. "But we'll definitely make it happen. " Georgia Southern transfer, Junior Borja Malet will also provide experience to LMU's line up. Malet earned second-team All-Southern conference last season for the Eagles playing the No. 1 doubles position as well as splitting time between the no. 2 and no. 3 singles position finishing with a 16-16 record overall. Paired with Emmanuel Nkoueleu, the tandem recorded an 18-10 overall record and a 5-3 record against SoCon opponents. Also making an impact for the Lions will be key returner Ivan Lopez. After transferring from Freed-Hardeman University, Lopez, an Almeria, Spain native finished the 2007-2008 season at LMU with an overall singles record of 21-13 finishing second team All-WCC. " We have a lot of depth this year. "Assistant coach Renouk Wijemanne said. " But what sets Ivan a part is that, especially from last season, he played well in big matches. If he plays to his potential, he could make it to nationals." Expect fellow underclassmen Johan Berhof, Aram Abgaryan, Aris Andreasian and Geza Bazula to make an impact for the Lions. After finishing 3-10 in singles matches last season, sophomore Aris Andreasian has already showed strong improvement from the previous year. Andreasian started the fall season with a bang, going undefeated in singles play at the UC Irvine Tournament October 10-12. Andreasian went 5-0 on the weekend, defeating opponents from No. 63 UC Irvine, San Diego, and UC Riverside. Newcomer Geza Bazula has also showed promise for the Lions. Bazula won the consolation bracket of the ITA Regional Tournament in Malibu this October. He defeated opponents from No. 4 UCLA, No. 63 UC Irvine, Cal Poly and UC Riverside. The freshman from Budapest also faced and defeated fellow teammate Ivan Lopez in the semi finals of the consolation bracket.
About Dartmouth Lead by Head Coach Chuck Kinyon in his 25th season, the Big Green is currently 3-5 this spring. Dartmouth has posted wins against Army, Marist, and Farleigh Dickinson. The Big Green began their spring trip this past week against Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. Dartmouth opened up the trip with a loss to the Gauchos 5-2 on Sunday afternoon. The Big Green opened up the match on top in the doubles round. Dartmouth won the point 2-1. The Big Green won the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions. Dartmouth's Curtis Roby and Ari Gayer won the No. 2 spot 8-4 while Chris Ho and Justin Tzou won the tiebreaker in the No. 3 position 9-8 (4). Roby also won Dartmouth's only singles match against UCSB. Roby defeated Max Tayler 6-0, 5-7, 10-8. Due to weather Dartmouth had to postpone the end of their match against Cal Poly till Monday at noon. As of Saturday the Big Green and the Mustangs were tied 3-3. The Big Green took the doubles point and two singles matches before the rain. Dartmouth won the doubles round 2-1. The Big Green's No. 1 doubles team of Dan Freeman and Stephen Greif defeated Cal Poly's Roby Sanesson and Gayer Gerst 8-3. Dartmouth's new No. 3 doubles team also saw their first win against Cal Poly. Junior Just Tzou and freshman Chris Ho took the No. 3 position 8-6. Freeman also gained a point in singles for Dartmouth. In the No. 1 singles position Freeman defeated Cal Poly's Drew Jacobs 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Curtis Roby took home the last point for Dartmouth before the postponement. Roby defeated Alex Asnesson 6-2, 1-6, 6-1. The match ended Sunday with a tie at the No. 3 singles position. As of now Dartmouth's Stephen Greif and Cal Poly's Andy Geist are tied in the third and determining set. Grief won the first set 6-4, Geist won the second 7-6, and both are tied at 1-1. After they finish their match against Cal Poly, Dartmouth will come to LMU Tennis Center to take on Wednesday to play for the Betty Werner Cup. Match time is 1:30 pm. |
