April 21, 2010

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Tennis will close out their season this weekend at the WCC Championship in San Diego, Calif. at the Burns Tennis Center. The Lions will play their first match against San Francisco this Friday at 11:30 am.

The Lion's first match up is to University of San Francisco this Friday at 11:30am. LMU received the fifth seed in the tournament against USF who is the number four seed. This four five match up should be a competitive match with each team's championship hopes riding upon this march. The Dons defeated the Lions 6-1 early this season, however coming off a big win over no. 51 ranked UC Irvine, the Lions have the right momentum going into the tournament and have gained confidence over the course of this season.

Junior, Ivan Lopez has been leading the Lions this season at the number one position. He has earned a 14-7 winning record in singles with a high of five straight singles victories earlier this month and a big win over UCSB and UC Irvine. Lopez and transfer Otto Sauer have also established a strong game as a doubles combination. They have proved a formidable opponent going 14-7 overall this season including wins over USD, Azusa Pacific, Gonzaga, Marquette, UCSB and UC Irvine. Lopez and Sauer also had a high of five straight singles wins this month before BYU halted their streak. In singles play, Otto Sauer went 8-12 overall with a crucial win against UC Irvine in three sets to give the Lions the overall win. Senior Borja Malet has also earned some big singles wins for the Lions, with a 7-12 overall record and the ability to play at any position for the Lions in both singles and doubles. Senior Renzo Maggi also has the ability to impact the Lions success, notably he had a big win against no. 61 UCSB setting his overall record to 8-11. Sophomore Geza Bazula has also been on the rise for the Lions in singles play, Bazula is 7-7 on the season, with big wins over Marquette and UC Riverside recently. The Lions will also be looking to Johan Berhoff in singles and Jack Zapala for strong play in both doubles.