ATHLETICS | Basketball season is officially underway and LMU completed a perfect week with the women knocking off No. 23 UCLA at home, and the men going 2-0 with wins over Westcliff and on the road at UNLV.
The men’s team is back at Gersten Pavilion this Tuesday for a local showdown against Cal State Northridge. The 6 p.m. game will also be the first beer sales men’s basketball game of the season. In addition, both the men’s and women’s promotional schedules have been announced and feature halftime acts, giveaways, theme nights, and more throughout the season.
The women’s team plays at Arizona for a Tuesday night matchup of unbeatens. The game will be streamed on the Pac-12.com.
Back for the third consecutive season, LMU women’s basketball will host thousands of school-aged children for a special midweek day game. This year’s event will be played at noon on Nov. 27 as the Lions host UC Davis at Gersten Pavilion. Faculty and staff are invited to spend their lunch breaks at the game and enjoy the craziness of thousands of little lions cheering for LMU.
On the other courts, men’s tennis had a full week competing in the Easley Classic and LMU Tennis Invitational. LMU men’s tennis sent Lucas Moreno and Ryan Brown to the 2018 Easley Memorial Championships last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Brown posting a pair of victories.
LMU men’s tennis opened the second annual LMU Invitational on Friday, welcoming Utah State, Utah and Nevada to campus. Lukas Moenter and Diego Nava each won a singles match, while the duo combined to beat Merville/Dudockin (Nevada) in doubles play. Max Kaiser also won two decisions, defeating Utah State’s Rithvik Bollipalli in singles and combining with Ethan Prost to beat N’tcha/Aremon (Nevada) in doubles.
The Lions matched up against Nevada in singles on Saturday, winning four of the six matches overall. LMU swept three doubles decisions on Sunday. Lukas Moenter and Max Kaiser teamed in doubles, defeating Arevalo/Bollipalli, 8-7(0), while Kaiser also picked up a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Mathias Gavelin in singles. Nick Borchenko also won a singles decision, knocking off Randy Cory, 6-1, 7-5. In other doubles action, Diego Nava and Ethan Prost recorded an 8-5 win over Opacic/Acosta, and Lucas Moreno/Ryan Brown topped Bucur/Bushamuka, 8-5.
Senior Koby Pederson ran the race of a lifetime as he qualified for the NCAA Championships next Saturday, Nov. 17 in Madison, Wis. Pederson finished third in a field that included several All-Americans and a National Champion. Pederson traversed the 10K course in 29:44.1 which is a new school record eclipsing Weston Strum’s old mark by 46 seconds. Pederson, who was outside the top-50 in the first mile, methodically moved his way into position going into the last mile where he closed in a 4:26 to break into the top-3.
Additionally, fourteen LMU cross country student-athletes received 2018 West Coast Conference All-Academic accolades, the conference announced last week. Senior Koby Pederson represents the Lions on the 2018 WCC Men’s Cross Country All-Academic Team, while 13 other LMU runners earned honorable mention.
LMU’s women’s volleyball match against WCC and PCH Cup rival Pepperdine, originally scheduled for Saturday, had been postponed due to fires that have forced the evacuation of Pepperdine’s campus this weekend. The match is expected to be rescheduled, but that date and time have not been determined.
The Lions will be in action on the volleyball court with a pair of conference games this week, as both Portland and Gonzaga come to Gersten Pavilion. Thursday’s match against the Pilots is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and Saturday’s Dad and Daughter Day Game, International Day Game, and Alumni Day Game against the Bulldogs will start at 1 p.m. Tickets are still available.
The men’s water polo team wrapped up their regular season and now head north to play Santa Clara in the opening round of the WWPA Championships. LMU’s 5-2 record slots the Lions into the three-seed, after earning the tiebreaker win over Cal Baptist earlier this season. LMU beat the No. 12 Lancers (21-10, 5-2 WWPA) at home on Oct. 25.
More awards came LMU’s way as the West Coast Conference announced the women’s soccer All-Conference selections. LMU has three players included with Sarina Bolden earning All-WCC Second Team honors, Shelby Cormier earning Honorable Mention Team recognition, and Jalyn Lupo representing the Lions on the WCC All-Freshman team.
Loyola Marymount’s Emma Tyrnauer has been selected to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Women’s Soccer Second Team after carrying a 3.89 GPA in biology and finishing her time as a Lion with 6,636 minutes played, the fourth-most all-time in program history. Tyrnauer started all 20 games for LMU this season and scored on Senior Night to cap off her playing career.
Head Coach Kyle Witt has announced the women’s water polo schedule for the spring 2019 season. The Lions return a team this season that played in the finals of the Golden Coast Championships a season ago. The season officially opens on Jan. 26 at the Cal Baptist mini-tournament in Riverside.
LMU rowing will once again participate in the annual Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade, with the festivities set for Saturday, Dec. 8. The Lions would like to welcome fans and members of the community to join them at the Jane Browne Bove Boathouse for food, drinks and giveaways while watching the fireworks and boat parade.
