ATHLETICS | The Jamaica Classic Montego Bay Division trophy is coming to the bluff after the LMU men’s basketball team went 2-0 this past weekend.
The Lions opened the tournament with a come-from-behind win over Georgetown on Friday, then cemented the title on Sunday after never trailing to Ohio. The perfect week began with a home win over CSUN on Monday, moving the Lions to unbeaten this season at 5-0. James Batemon was awarded the Tournament MVP and Mattias Markusson was named to the All-Tournament team. The Lions return to Los Angeles for a three-game homestand. The Lions host fellow Jamaica Classic competitors Central Connecticut State on Nov. 21 then Florida A&M on Nov. 24. Tickets are still available.
The LMU women’s basketball team knocked off their second Pac-12 team in as many games to move to 2-0 to start the season. The Lions defeated Arizona, 66-64, at the McKale Center in a game that went down to the wire. LMU will play one more road contest at UC Santa Barbara on Monday, Nov. 19, before returning home to host the annual LMU Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 23-24.
The men’s water polo team traveled up to Fresno this weekend to compete in the Western Water Polo Association Championships. The Lions advanced to the semifinals after erupting for 12 goals in the final three periods to top Santa Clara, 12-10, on Friday. A Saturday loss pinned LMU into the third place game Sunday morning. The Lions secured third place in the WWPA Championships with a 10-7 win over Air Force, and finished the season at .500 for the first time since 2012.
Prior to the conference tournament, the WWPA announced the All-Conference team with LMU well represented. Blazo Mitrovic earned a specialty award as the conference’s Freshman of the Year, to go along with his first team All-WWPA honors and All-Freshman recognition. Junior Alexandros Athymaritis earned second team recognition and Dayne Jagga is on the All-WWPA Honorable Mention team.
The top-ranked team women’s volleyball team comes to Gersten Pavilion on Tuesday, as unbeaten BYU plays the Lions on Senior Night. The game will be televised on TheW.tv To purchase tickets, contact the LMU box office at 310.338.5466 or visit LMULions.com/buywvb. LMU went 1-2 at home this week, and opened with a three-set sweep over Portland.
Men’s tennis senior Lukas Moenter has been tabbed as the No. 60 singles player in the nation according to the latest Oracle/ITA rankings released last Wednesday. The ranking is the highest in LMU men’s tennis history since Nico Terrien’s No. 75 preseason ranking to begin the 2005-06 season.
Four LMU men’s soccer players have earned 2018 All-WCC recognition, the West Coast Conference office announced. Senior Antonio Porreco was named to the All-WCC Second Team while sophomore Gerardo Lopez earned All-WCC Honorable Mention and a pair of freshmen, CJ Neville and Jack Sauls, was selected to the WCC All-Freshman Team.
As an Athletic Department, LMU continued to post strong GSR numbers in the latest announcement from the NCAA, matching last year’s Graduation Success Rate overall mark of 92. This year marks the sixth-straight time in the 13-year history of the metric that LMU has reached or exceeded 90 percent, and the 10th-straight year the campus has posted a mark of 88 percent or higher.
