March 12, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

Los Angeles, Calif -

LMU Women's Tennis will continue their home stand with two matches at LMU Tennis Center this weekend. The Lions will take on the Memphis Tigers on Saturday and follow up with the Columbia Lions on Sunday. Both matches are set for 10:00 a.m.

LMU went 1-1 last weekend. Loyola Marymount captured their first road victory against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, March 5 and suffered a heartbreaking loss to No. 34 San Diego State 4-3 on Saturday, March 7. On Thursday, The Lions swept the Fullerton Titans 7-0 for their second win of the season. All three LMU doubles pairs won their respective matches. Bliss Nixon and Jane Pringle won the No. 1 position 8-6, Jasmin Heckel and Elisaveta Pironkova took the No. 2 spot 8-1, and Tina Razloznik and Shauna Morgan won the No. 3 spot 8-5. LMU also won all their singles matches in straight sets. Heckel kept her opponent Shelly Injejikian scoreless in the No. 2 position 6-0, 6-0 while Freshman Estelle LaPorte fought the toughest match 7-5, 6-4 in the No. 6 position. On Saturday March 7, Loyola Marymount returned home to face the No. 34 team in the country, San Diego State Aztecs. The Aztecs were too much for the Lions as they pulled off the win 4-3. For the third straight match LMU took the doubles point. Pringle and Nixon took the No. 1 spot 8-5 while Razlzonik and Morgan took the No. 3 position 8-3. Razloznik and Elisaveta Pironkova took home LMU's only wins in singles. Razloznik defeated SDSU's top singles player, Julia Trunk, 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 1 position while in the No. 4 spot Pironkova soundly defeated the Aztecs' Roxanne Ellison 6-4, 6-4. Jasmin Heckel almost captured the win for LMU. Heckel fell in extra sets to Emma Cioffi 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.

The LMU Women's Tennis team has dedicated its 2008-2009 season to the memory of senior associate athletics director Betty Werner. Werner lost her five-month battle with Cancer this past August after serving as head of internal operations for LMU athletics since 2000. Werner was very instrumental in taking the Lions to another level. Under her supervision, LMU saw its conference titles in women's tennis, women's basketball, men's golf, and first-ever NCAA tournament appearances for men and women's soccer. Tennis gave Betty her start in a long 40 plus year career in athletics. At Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, TX, the women's tennis coach saw her playing at a boys' basketball practice and suggested she play on the tennis team. She went on to have a successful career, playing No. 1 singles and doubles in the Texas Tennis Circuit and earning the Dallas Tennis Association Sportsmanship Award in 1964.Betty Werner paved the way for women's athletics today and LMU Women's Tennis is proud to dedicate this season to the heart of a true lion.

Leading the way for LMU women's tennis is the only senior on the team, Tina Razloznik. Her experience in years, results, and consistency will provide the veteran leadership this young international team needs. The Lions consists of 4 juniors, 2 sophomores and two freshmen from all over the world including Spain, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Bulgaria, and Slovenia. Even the American players are from all different parts of the country including Illinois, Nevada, and right here in LA, Hermosa Beach native, freshman Estelle La Porte. In her 2007-2008 season, Razloznik was one of only three lions to receive all WCC honors for the #10 team in the region. In singles play, the native of Indrija, Slovenia faired an impressive overall record of 21-12, 15-8 in the #3 singles position. After the departure of #1 and #2 singles player, Pavla Mesterova and Tamara Tanner, Razloznik will most likely take over the #1 singles position this year. Tina will not be alone at the top. She will be aided by Audrey Bulkley. So far this fall, the junior from Springfield, Illinois has proved she will be a force to be reckon with in the WCC. Bulkley has improved from her last season's record of 13-20 at the #5 singles position to upsetting top ranked opponents this fall at one of the most competitive tournaments in one of the toughest regions, the Wilson/ITA West Regional Championship in San Diego.

Memphis is currently 8-8 on the season. After a loss to Georgia in their opening match, the Tigers went on a five game winning streak defeating opponents in the Samford Preaseason Invitational, Lipscomb, Tennessee-Martin, UAB, and Samford. The Tigers' last win came on February 15 against Stephen F. Austin. This week started Memphis' spring break road trip to California. The Tigers' first match was Wednesday against No. 75 Cal Poly. The Mustangs topped Memphis 7-0. Cal Poly began the match by sweeping the doubles round. The Memphis tandems of Ashley Murdock and Majories Ondeck and Kristin Chamberlain and Dara Toulch came the closest to capturing wins for the Tigers. Murdock and Ondeck fell in the No. 1 doubles position 8-4 while Chamberlain and Toulch fell in the No. 3 spot 8-4. In singles, Murdock, an All C-USA selection a season before, fell to the No. 78 singles player Brittany Blalock 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 1 position. Murdock dropped to 12-7 on the season. Memphis Women's Tennis will face Cal State Northridge on Friday before coming to LMU Tennis Center on Saturday.

Columbia Women's Tennis is currently 3-6 on the 2009 spring season. The Lions have wins over Florida Atlantic, UMBC, and Long Island. In their most recent match Columbia faced Temple Owls at Dick Savitt Tennis Center. The Lions fell to the Owls 5-2. Columbia dropped the doubles round 3-0. In the No. 1 doubles position Natasha Makarova and Nina Suda came the closest to winning a match. Makarvoa and Suda fell to Temple's Theresa Stangl and Lucie Pazderova 8-6.The Lions earned both their points in the No.1 and No. 2 singles positions. Both Makarova and Nicole Stanziola went the distance in their respective matches. At the No. 1 spot Makarova outlasted Temple's Elyse Steiner 6-4, 1-6, 14-12 while Stanziola defeated Theresa Stangl 6-4, 1-6, 10-7. In the No. 3 spot Columbia's Christine Clermont came close to another extra set victory for the Lions but fell 6-4, 6-7, 10-7 to Temple's Rukavyshnykova. Columbia's next match will be at LMU Tennis Center on Sunday, March 15 at 10:00 a.m.

Jamie Sanchez is in his 34th season as head coach of the Loyola Marymount women's tennis program. Sanchez, the program's only coach since its inception, began coaching the team in 1976 and has posted a career record of 418-378. In 2002, Sanchez guided the Lions to their first ever WCC Championship with a 4-2 win over Pepperdine. Sanchez and the Lions advanced to the NCAA playoffs as a team for the first time in program history. He was named the WCC Coach of the Year for the second straight year in 2002, and in 2006, he earned his third honor.