CLU Regals Tennis News

Regals Net Victory in Dramatic Fashion

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Cal Lutheran and Westmont were tied with one match remaining to decide Saturday's winner at the Poulson Tennis Center. Lindsay Murphy earned the match-clinching point in at the No. 4 singles spot as the Regals preserved their perfect record this season.

Results: CLU 5, WEST 4 - F

Murphy evened her singles match taking the second set 6-4 to force a third. With the team result still in question the players competed in a full third set to decide the winner.

Murphy was down a break 2-3 in the third set but broke her opponent Emily Keach's serve to even the match. She would go on to win four of the final five games to close out the match and win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Westmont's pair of NAIA nationally ranked players Nicci Yvanovich and Tara Yekrang combined to score three of the team's four points. The duo combined to provide their team's lone doubles point, and split up to win their respective singles matches in straight sets.

Five of the six singles matches were settled in straight sets with CLU's Sarah Baker and Carly Mouzes winning at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively. With their Saturday victories both remained unbeaten this season in both singles and doubles play.

Cal Lutheran (3-0) will host Chapman (1-0) on Friday, Feb. 10.

Cal Lutheran Handles Hope International

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:30:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Cal Lutheran women's tennis remained unbeaten this season following an 8-1 win over Hope International at the Poulson Tennis Center on Friday night. The Regals reeled off eight straight victories to open their match with the Royals.

Results: CLU 8, HIU 1 - F

Cal Lutheran was able to handle the blustery wind conditions and dominate play early on. CLU dropped only two total games while sweeping Hope International in doubles play.

The Royals managed to win just two more games in the No. 3 through No. 6 singles matches as the Regals clinched their second win of the year.

"Players handle these types of conditions differently," said CLU's Carly Mouzes. "I was trying to play safe and be patient." Mouzes saw her first action of the season and cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles.

Handling the elements with equal success but different tactics was freshman Sarah Baker. "In this type of (environment), I just go for it." Baker moved up from No. 6 in the season opener to the No. 4 singles slot and has yet to drop a game in four sets this year.

CLU was without usual No. 1 singles player Kim Koblias for Friday's match. Holly Beaman stepped up into the No. 1 singles slot for the first time in her career, and nearly closed out the match without too much resistance.

Serving for the match up 5-4 in the second set, Jasmin Zaragoza broke Beaman's serve and held to go up 6-5. After Beaman forced a second set tiebreak, a couple of fortuitous glances off the net helped end the match 6-3, 7-6 (2).

HIU's Jeannette Rodriguez earned the lone point for the Royals to cap off the match. She effectively used the lob shot and overcame losing the first set to win 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-3) in a third set super tiebreak.

Cal Lutheran (2-0) will host Westmont on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 2 p.m.

Regals Tennis Wins Season Debut

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - In less than ideal conditions the Cal Lutheran women's tennis took to the court for the first time this season on Saturday morning. The Regals won all three doubles matches and cruised to a 7-2 home win over Master's College.

Results: CLU 7, TMC 2 - F

The No. 1 CLU doubles team of Kim Kolibas and Holly Beaman completed a doubles sweep by defeating the team of Tiffany Man and Maggie Becker, 8-5. Kolibas and Beaman enter the season ranked No. 14 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Pre-Season West Region rankings.

All four of Cal Lutheran's singles victories came in straight sets. Beaman, Jordan Leckness, and Lindsay Murphy won at No.'s 2, 3, and 4 singles respectively.

Sarah Becker made her collegiate debut a memorable one after shutting out her opponent 6-0, 6-0 in singles action. Earlier she teamed up with Lauren Toohey for an 8-2 win in doubles action.

With the team result already decided, the Mustangs picked up their two points to close out Saturday's action. Both Becker and Abigail Zaretsky won their respective singles matches in super tiebreakers.

Cal Lutheran (1-0) will continue its 12-match home stand to open the 2012 season on Friday, Feb. 3, against Hope International.

CLU Hands Out End of Year Awards

Mon, 09 May 2011 18:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On Monday inside Gilbert Arena student-athletes representing each of Cal Lutheran's 19 programs were recognized for their achievements throughout the 2010-11 season at the annual end of the year gathering put together by members of both the CLU athletics department and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

The Cal Lutheran Senior Athletes of the Year were officially announced during the event with Allison Kerr of volleyball earning the honor for the women. Eric Flores and Andrew Giuffrida will share the honor for the men.

Seventy-two Cal Lutheran student-athletes are scheduled to graduate this month including the CLU Scholar-Athletes of the Year in Bobby Sanders of women's water polo and Ray Ostrander of men's cross country and track and field.

All student-athletes from this past season received a token of appreciation for their respective contributions this year with first year CLU members getting a CLU athletics department shirt, second year a sweatshirt, third year a letterman and fourth year a plaque.

Cal Lutheran Athletes Making the Grade

Mon, 09 May 2011 15:45:00 PST

It started in a little room in the humanities building. It eventually moved to the Lundring Events Center, where everyone assumed it would remain for many years. But the numbers just kept increasing, so this year's Cal Lutheran Scholar-Athlete Society induction banquet had to be held in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center.

A record-high 112 athletes were honored last Saturday for having a cumulative GPA of at least 3.4. The standard far exceeds the 2.0 needed to be eligible to compete in athletics.

"To me that is the whole Division III philosophy of being a student and a top athlete," CLU Athletic Director Dan Kuntz said. "Our mission is to help them do well in school and do well in their sport and give them an opportunity to carry those on to other things."

The Scholar-Athlete Society started in 2003 with only 36 athletes. Although the amount of teams at CLU has remained the same, the number of athletes honored has jumped exponentially.

This year's total represents nearly 30 percent of the athletes at CLU.

"They are competitive people, and if you let them know what the expectation is, they are going to go for it," Kuntz said. "Once it happens once and someone see it, they realize the opportunity is there for them and it becomes a road map for others to follow."

CLU distance runner Roy Ostrander and women's water polo player Bobby Sanders, who were recently named Cal Lutheran Senior Scholar-Athletes of the Year, have been members of the society all four years at CLU.

In front of a large gathering of relatives, coaches and administrators, each of the 116 honorees received certificates and other small tokens of reward.

"If they have the passion and commitment to their sport, it is a large chunk of their time they have to dedicate to play," Kuntz said. "It's asking a lot because they are not getting scholarship money or a private tutor or special trainer or registration just for them. They are doing this on their own because they want to."

Kuntz believes the environment at CLU is conducive for athletes to balance sports and academics successfully.

"The students have people around them and resources available if they need support, and I think a person tends to thrive more if they feel like they can do more," Kuntz said. "I think those things have really evolved at CLU the last several years and there has been a lot of work to ensure the infrastructure is in place."

Regals Say Hello, Goodbye to Ojai

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:00:00 PST

VENTURA, Calif. - Four members of the Cal Lutheran women's tennis squad took part on day one of the Ojai Tournament on Thursday. Facing a tough draw in both the independent college singles and doubles brackets the competing Regals were knocked out of competition.

Results: Cal Lutheran Results
Official Website: 111th Ojai Valley Tournament

Singles play started early this morning with Jordan Leckness and Holly Beaman having to face West region opponents ranked in the top-11 overall. Leckness fell to Whitman's Alyssa Roberg in straight sets while Beaman nearly took the second set off seeded player Ariana Mokhtari of UC Santa Cruz.

In a match of two extremes Kim Kolibas was shutout in the first set before storming back to take the second 6-1 off of Pomona-Pitzer's Arthi Padmanabhan. The Sagehen responded in kind taking the third and deciding set by a 6-1 margin.

Beaman and Leckness did not have to take to the court until the second round earning a first round walkover. However their first opponent was No. 2 seed Marie Boura and Erika Januskova of Fresno Pacific. The duo lived up to their rank and defeated the CLU pair by a 6-0, 6-1 margin.

Lindsay Murphy joined Kolibas earned a first round bye before facing the No. 5 team in the West region from UC Santa Cruz. The Regals duo would look to avenge an earlier loss suffered by Beaman in singles play as Mokhtari and Taylor Mannix were their second round foe.

A third set tiebreaker was necessary to decide the match with the Banana Slugs twosome outlasting the Regals tandem 10-7.

Both the singles and doubles competitions will continue over the next three days with the championship matches taking place on Sunday.

SCIAC Serves Notice to CLU's Kolibas

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:00:00 PST

PASADENA, Calif. - Kim Kolibas of the Cal Lutheran women's tennis team was named to the all-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Second Team following the completion of the conference championship tournament this past weekend.

Official Release: 2011 Women's Tennis All-SCIAC Team

Kim Kolibas (Second Team)
The junior earned her first selection to an all-conference team after going 6-11, 2-8 SCIAC in singles play and 9-8, 2-7 SCIAC during doubles action. In the conference tournament she earned a straight sets win over fellow second teamer Liliana Serylo of Whittier to aid Cal Lutheran to a first round victory.

For her career Kolibas has 26 singles wins and 29 doubles wins and this season led the Regals to a final regular season West region ranking of No. 12.

Kristin Lim of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was named the 2011 SCIAC Player of the Year.

Cal Lutheran finished the season 9-9, 4-6 SCIAC and tied for fourth place in the conference standings. Members of the team will compete at the annual Ojai Invitational this upcoming weekend starting on Friday, Apr. 29.

Regals Finish Fourth at SCIAC Championships

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:45:00 PST

PASADENA, Calif. - Saturday's match against No. 24 Redlands culminated a busy weekend of tennis for Cal Lutheran as the Regals were defeated 7-2 to finish in fourth place at the SCIAC Championship Tournament.

Results: UR 7, CLU 2 - F

Starting the morning in a manner similar to Friday's contest against Whittier, the Regals were able to win one of the three doubles matches played with Carly Mouzes and Lauren Toohey responsible once again for the first point earned by Cal Lutheran.

Against Whittier, the Regals entered the round of singles matches trailing 2-1, but exited with a come-from-behind victory as CLU was able to win four consecutive singles matches to earn the victory over the Poets.

Entering Saturday's round of singles competition also trailing by a similar 2-1 margin, the Regals looked to replicate their results from the previous day once the CLU six returned to the courts at Pasadena City College to resume competition.

This time, it was Redlands emerged victorious in a succession of singles match-ups, ultimately defeating Cal Lutheran 7-2.

Earning an 8-4 win with her doubles partner Toohey in earlier action, Mouzes returned to the court and was able to earn yet another point for the Regals with her 6-4, 6-2 straight sets victory over Redland's Katherine Guimapang.

Entering the weekend's competition as the tournament's No. 5 seed, Cal Lutheran had one of the more challenging scheduled faced by any of the eight participating teams, competing against two nationally ranked squads in consecutive matches en route to its fourth place finish.

Cal Lutheran now holds a 9-9 overall record, going 4-6 in its 10 contests against SCIAC opponents.

The Regals will return to the courts this Thursday as one of a number of teams competing in the Ojai Valley Tournament, CLU's final event of the 2011 season.

CLU Erases Early Deficit to Defeat Whittier

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 20:30:00 PST

PASADENA, Calif. - Splitting its matches against Whittier and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Friday afternoon, Cal Lutheran will now face Redlands in Saturday morning's third place match at the SCIAC Women's Tennis Championships.

Results (Match One): CLU 5, WC 2 - F
Results (Match Two): CMS 9, CLU 0 - F

Cal Lutheran 5, Whittier 2 - F
An afternoon full of tennis began on an ominous note for the Regals tennis team as Whittier entered the round of singles matches with a 2-1 lead over Cal Lutheran.

Earning the lone point for the Regals out of the three doubles match-ups, Carly Mouzes and Lauren Toohey prevented Cal Lutheran from facing a sizable deficit by winning their doubles match by an 8-3 score.

Were it not for their victory, Cal Lutheran would have needed a near-sweep in the round of singles matches to defeat the Poets. Instead, CLU emerged victorious in four straight singles matches to earn a 5-2 victory over Whittier.

Defeating Maryrose Vigorita 6-1, 6-2, Mouzes was one of two Regals who were able to earn a quick victory against Whittier once singles competition began.

Winning all 12 games played, Lauren Murphy earned the only straight set, shutout victory for the Regals throughout the entire day, quickly handing Lauren Gelgur 6-0, 6-0 to help CLU take the lead for the first time that morning against the Poets.

Also earning victories in their respective singles matches, albeit in a more time consuming manner than Mouzes and Murphy, were Kim Kolibas and Holly Beaman.

Facing Whittier's top singles player, Kolibas was able to successfully break Liliana Serylo's serve to take the first set by a score of 6-3.

Battling her opponent in a highly competitive second set, Kolibas emerged victorious in a second set tiebreaker to secure the final set by a 7-6 (7-4) margin to place the Regals only one point shy of advancing to the winner's bracket.

Winning her first set by a 6-4 score, Beaman did not allow Adrienne Hamada to win another game throughout the remainder of the match to win the second set 6-0, officially completing the Cal Lutheran comeback.

Once Cal Lutheran officially advanced, drawing Claremont-Mudd-Scripps as its afternoon opponent, both Toohey and Leckness immediately ended their respective matches in an attempt to prepare accordingly for CLU's meeting against the tournament's top-seeded team.

No. 13 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 9, Cal Lutheran 0 - F
Nearly earning the CLU's first point of the afternoon Beaman and Leckness ended up on the wrong side of a 7-5 tiebreak as Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Chloe Dobbert and Alexandra Hsu were able to break serve to hand the pair a heartbreaking 9-8 (7-5) defeat to help the Athenas earn a sizable 3-0 lead over Cal Lutheran.

Looking to reverse her team's fortunes, Murphy was able to successfully win her first set 6-4 against Jaclyn Smrecek. Unfortunately for Cal Lutheran, Murphy's first set triumph was the only one that the Regals would earn throughout the entire afternoon against the tournament's top-seeded team.

Murphy ended up dropping the second set 4-6, before being defeated by a narrow 1-0 (10-6) margin in another tough tiebreaker that made an already challenging situation even more difficult for Cal Lutheran.

As the afternoon progressed, Cal Lutheran was just unable to offset the Athenas' early 3-0 advantage as CMS finished the day earning straight set victories in the other five singles matches to defeat CLU 9-0.

Also splitting its matches during the first day of competition, defeating Occidental 5-1 before losing 8-1 to Pomona-Pitzer, the Redlands Bulldogs will now face Cal Lutheran in Saturday's third place match.

Scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m., both teams will square-off against one another at Pasadena City College before returning to Caltech for a conference-sponsored awards luncheon tentatively scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

Women's Tennis SCIAC Championships Preview

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:00:00 PST

PASADENA, Calif. - Cal Lutheran women's tennis will take part in the 2011 SCIAC Championships hosted by Caltech from Apr. 22-23. CLU earned the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 4 Whittier in its opening round match on Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Official Website: 2011 SCIAC Championships

The Regals closed out the regular season with two conference wins and finished with a 3-4 SCIAC mark. Cal Lutheran hopes to avenge a 6-3 loss to Whittier suffered on Apr. 9. The winner will face the victor between top seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and No. 8 Caltech.

Each of the eight squads will play three matches with two on Friday and the finals on Saturday. The first two rounds will get underway at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., followed by a 10 a.m. final round start.

In conference play Holly Beaman and Lindsay Murphy have four wins apiece as the No. 2 and No. 4 singles players, respectively to lead the team. Beaman and Jordan Leckness have teamed up posting a 4-2 doubles record in SCIAC play.

CLU Ends Regular Season on Win Streak

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Cal Lutheran concluded the 2011 regular season with an 8-1 victory over Occidental at the Poulson Tennis Center. Senior Lacey Gormley finished off her final home match and Saturday's action with a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory.

Results: CLU 8, OXY 1 - F

For the third straight match CLU won all three doubles matches but it was not without some resistance. All three OXY pairings took at least five games in their respective contests but the Regals held on winning by at least one break in each.

OXY's Krishnaveni Subbiah, currently ranked No. 13 in the West region, gave the Tigers life earning a point at No. 1 singles in straight sets. However it would be the only victory for the visiting side on the day.

Cal Lutheran earned four of its five singles wins in straight sets with Lauren Toohey the exception. After forcing a third set super tiebreak by earning a 6-2 second set win she outlasted Emily Wilde at No. 5 singles for a 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (12-10) win.

Gormley, the lone senior on this year's squad was the final CLU player to finish play and she did so in dominating fashion. After squeaking by with a 7-6 (5) first set win her play and the elements, featuring dry heat up near 90 degrees aided a second set rout.

She picked up her 34th career win overall and 18th in singles play. Cal Lutheran extended its season-long win streak to three matching its effort to open the 2011 campaign.

Cal Lutheran (8-7, 3-4 SCIAC) will face Whittier in the first round of the SCIAC Championships to take place Apr. 22-23 hosted by Caltech.

Cal Lutheran Blanks Biola Again

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:00:00 PST

LA MIRADA, Calif. - Cal Lutheran women's tennis went on the road to defeat Biola by a 9-0 score for the second time this season. The Regals won three straight to open the season including a clean sweep of the Eagles back on Mar. 1.

Results: CLU 9, BIOLA 0 - F

Following four straight conference matches over a six-day span Cal Lutheran enjoyed taking part in its final non-conference contest of the season. The victory was the second straight shutout following a home victory over La Verne on Apr. 9 and the fourth this season.

Cal Lutheran surrendered only two games over all three doubles matches including a pair of shutout wins. Kim Kolibas and Lindsay Murphy at No. 1 along with Lauren Toohey and Carly Mouzes at No. 3 posted 8-0 victories.

Murphy would keep the clean sheet as she dispatched her opponent 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles. All six Regals won their respective singles matches in straight sets including Kolibas who won a second set tiebreak to avoid a third set.

Senior Lacey Gormley will take part in the her final match at the Poulson Tennis Center when Cal Lutheran (7-7, 2-4 SCIAC) hosts Occidental in its final regular season and home contest of the 2011 season on Saturday, Apr. 16 starting at 10 a.m.

For her career Gormley has earned 33 victories (17 singles, 16 doubles) doing so for two different coaches and at two different home courts during her four years at CLU.

Regals Clean House with 9-0 Sweep

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Starting their match against La Verne with three doubles victories, the Cal Lutheran Regals ended their day in a similar manner, winning all six singles match-ups to defeat La Verne 9-0 Wednesday afternoon.

Results: CLU 9, ULV 0 - F

In control of the day's events from the moment competition began, Carly Mouzes and Lauren Toohey picked up the first win of the day for the Regals with their 8-2 win over Justine Ledesma and Carly Tucker. Earning numerous service breaks throughout the match, the duo provided a glimpse of the success Cal Lutheran would earn against the Leopards throughout the remaining eight contests.

As the doubles round progressed, La Verne became visibly frustrated as the Leopards found zero ways to squelch the aggressive style of play the Regals utilized throughout all three doubles match-ups.

Trailing 2-3 at one point of their contest, the only occasion all afternoon that La Verne was able to earn any type of sustained success against Cal Lutheran, the Regals' pairing of Kim Kolibas and Lindsay Murphy were able to regain control of their match and win the next six consecutive games to earn an 8-3 win over Lila Luna and Tarika Krishnamurthy.

Doubling CLU's lead in the process, the two were able to take full advantage of the downtime associated with winning a set in a timely manner, watching teammates Holly Beaman and Jordan Leckness extend CLU's overall lead to 3-0 with another 8-3 doubles win over Valerie Lezin and Allison Moncrief.

Successfully sweeping the initial matches of the day, Cal Lutheran set their sights on winning all six matches as well, an outcome the team felt could realistically take place at the Poulson Tennis Courts if the quality of play during the doubles round served as an indication of what could potentially take place once the singles round commenced.

Earning her third straight singles victory with her 6-2, 6-0 victory over Krishnamurthy, Murphy soon earned the decisive point of the day with her straight-set shutout win over Lezin.

Making the transition from competitor to supporter, Beaman and Murphy saw a potential shutout bid gain momentum with each additional victory her teammates recorded.

After splitting the first two sets 6-2 and 4-6, Mouzes would dig deep to make the necessary shots to win her tiebreaker 10-7 and move her team one step closer to earning another shutout win.

Once Toohey and Leckness, won their matches 6-1, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-1, the two quickly proceeded to court one to support Kolibas in her match against Luna.

Earning that one service break needed to stave off a tiebreaker and win the first set 7-5, Kolibas was more than content to extend every rally as long as possible in an attempt to force Luna to make the mistakes needed to take the second set as well.

As was the case in the previous set, a service break earned by Kolibas created the necessary distance to win the second set 6-4, completing a day full of tennis that was completely dominated by Cal Lutheran.

Ending the season with three matches over a four day period, the Regals (6-7, 2-4 SCIAC) hope the momentum generated in Wednesday's shutout victory will carry over this Friday in their road match Biola (2-14) this Friday.

Defeating Biola at home on March1st by a similar 9-0 score, CLU will look to complete their non-conference sweep over the Eagles before ending the regular season at home, the very next day against the Occidental Tigers.

Fridays contest will begin at 3:00 p.m.

Cal Lutheran Upended by Whittier

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - An early 3-0 hole after doubles forced Cal Lutheran to win five of six singles matches to earn the team victory over Whittier. The Regals three singles wins were not enough as the Poets held on for a 6-3 decision.

Results: WC 6, CLU 3 - F

Unfortunately as of late it has been a common theme for CLU to play catch up in singles play having gone 1-8 in the past nine doubles matches against the past three conference opponents. The Regals have faced strong opposition with two of the three (Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands) earning national rankings.

Five of the six singles matches were won in straight sets including victories at No. 2 by Holly Beaman, No. 4 by Lindsay Murphy and No. 6 by Carly Mouzes.

With the match already decided at 5-3, Whittier's Kady Oliker came from behind in the second set to force a third set super tiebreak in which she won 10-5 at No. 5 singles.

Cal Lutheran (5-7, 1-4 SCIAC) will host La Verne (5-11, 0-5 SCIAC) on Wednesday, Apr. 13 at 3 p.m.

CLU Suffers Third Straight SCIAC Loss

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 19:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - With Cal Lutheran nearly taking two of three doubles matches early on in its home tilt with No. 28 Redlands, the Regals were unable to take a set off the Bulldogs in singles play dropping an 8-1 decision on Friday afternoon.

Results: UR 8, CLU 1 - F

Jordan Leckness and Holly Beaman evened the match at one after earning an 8-6 victory at No. 2 doubles. Teammates Kim Kolibas and Lindsay Murphy pushed Jessica Ly and Julia Glabraith to an extra game but fell 9-7 surrendering the second team point and tie.

Carly Mouzes provided the best opportunity for a point in singles as her match at No. 5 singles concluded the day. However Katherine Guimapang held serve after securing an early break in the second set and went on to win 6-4, 6-4.

Cal Lutheran (5-6, 1-3 SCIAC) will host Whittier (4-6, 2-2 SCIAC) on Saturday, Apr. 9 at 10 a.m.

Regals Fall to Powerhouse Sagehens

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:00:00 PST

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Cal Lutheran was another victim of No. 7 nationally ranked Pomona-Pitzer on Thursday afternoon falling 9-0 in conference action. The Sagehens have yet to drop more than two team points to an NCAA Division III opponent in 10 matches this season.

Results: PP 9, CLU 0 - F

The CLU doubles pairing Kim Kolibas and Lindsay Murphy was the closest to taking a point off the undefeated defending SCIAC Champions nearly forcing a tiebreaker. However Jamie Solomon and Jessica Hsu took the final game to avoid it altogether and win 9-7.

Pomona-Pitzer boasts five regionally ranked players including four that took to the courts on Thursday in singles play. That group and two others combined to win all six singles matches in straight sets.

The Regals have been shut out by the Sagehens in their past five meetings and have not won a dual match with Pomona-Pitzer since 2005.

Cal Lutheran (5-5, 1-2 SCIAC) will host No. 28 Redlands (8-6, 3-1 SCIAC) on Friday, Apr. 8 at 2 p.m.

April 6 is National Student-Athlete Day

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On Wednesday, Apr. 6 institutions of higher learning will celebrate student-athletes across the country as part of National Student-Athlete Day. The program of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS), has been celebrated annually on this date since 1987.

Official Website: National Student-Athlete Day

"We are very proud to honor hundreds of student athletes competing at CLU in 19 Division III sports programs and soon to be 20 with the addition of women's golf in 2011," commented Cal Lutheran Athletics Director Dan Kuntz. "As Division III athletes our students embrace the philosophy that competing in sports is an educational experience where learning extends beyond the classroom."

Brett Halvaks, the current CLU SAAC President as well as the NCAA Division III SCIAC and Northwest Conference SAAC Representative is receiving and giving out recognition to fellow student-athletes.

"I believe this day provides a wonderful opportunity to recognize what CLU Student-Athletes have accomplished over this past year; both in their sport and in the classroom as well," said Cal Lutheran Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Brett Halvaks.

The special day honors individuals at both the high school and collegiate levels. There are over 425,000 NCAA student-athletes with Cal Lutheran representing some of the more than 168,000 from Division III.

"It is remarkable to think that CLU, not to mention all Division III student-athletes in general are competing at such a high level while being provided minimal athletic aid," stated Halvaks who is a member of both the Kingsmen cross country and track and field teams.

Appropriately two of Cal Lutheran's eight spring teams will hold true to the student-athlete moniker with women's water polo hosting Redlands at 5 p.m. and baseball heading out to Chapman on a day that recognizes the student-athlete.

Regals Dominate from Start to Finish

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:00:00 PST

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Winning all three doubles matches against the visiting Pacific Lutheran Lutes, Cal Lutheran followed that effort by winning all six singles matches en route to a 9-0 shutout victory Monday afternoon.

Results: CLU 9, PLU 0 - F

The win is CLU's fifth of the season, and the third earned on their home surface.

Facing his old team in Cal Lutheran's final home non-conference match of the season, Regals head coach Mike Benson addressed his squad prior to the start of today's action.

"I told all the players about my prior experiences as the former coach of Pacific Lutheran," said Benson, "and let everyone know how much I wanted to win today's match just like every other one we compete in."

Earning the first point of the afternoon for Cal Lutheran, the doubles team of Holly Beaman and Jordan Leckness took their coach's words to heart and set the tone for the entire match, winning their set by an overwhelming 8-0 margin.

Once teammates Carly Mouzes and Lauren Toohey broke Pacific Lutheran's serve to win their seventh point of their game, the Lutes soon saw themselves trailing 2-0 within a matter of minutes.

Completing the Cal Lutheran sweep during the round of doubles matches, Kim Kolibas and Lindsay Murphy made a challenging situation even more difficult as the visiting Lutes were then faced with the daunting task of needing a near-sweep of the six singles matches in order to leave Thousand Oaks with a win.

A first set tiebreak between Kolibas and Pacific Lutheran's Leah Newell would turn out to become the closest the Lutes would get to winning a set against the host Regals. Keeping Cal Lutheran's chance to pull off the true sweep alive with her 7-5 tiebreak victory, Kolibas wasted no time in winning the second set, giving up only one game in her straight sets victory.

Even though Newell was not able to win the set, she was successful enough to win seven games before succumbing to a dominant Regals squad.

In their respective singles matches, Leckness, Murphy, and Toohey allowed their opponents to win only six games combined, a reflection of the effort and energy Cal Lutheran brought with them to the Poulson Tennis Courts.

Competing in their third match in the last four days, Cal Lutheran looked as if they were coming off of an extended break as they were able to out-hustle their opponents throughout the entire afternoon to earn their second shutout victory of the season.

The Regals earned their first clean slate on March 1st in their third match of the season against the visiting Biola Eagles.

Coach Benson and his Regals will now have the next two days to rest and prepare for their next contest, resuming their SCIAC schedule this Thursday at Pomona-Pitzer.

Regals Road Trip Continues in Claremont

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:15:00 PST

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Competing in only one road match during the first eight weeks of the season due to rainstorms that not only affected Southern California, but Cal Lutheran's schedule as well, the Regals participated in day two of back-to-back SCIAC road matches Saturday afternoon.

Results: CMS 8, CLU 1 - F

Earning their first conference victory of the season on Friday at Caltech, CLU finished weekend competition on Saturday against No. 16 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Also competing in their third event in the last seven days when they took the court against the Athenas, Cal Lutheran started slowly, dropping their first two doubles matches of the day.

Earning the first point of doubles competition for the Regals was the team of Kim Kolibas and Carly Mouzes. Once the CLU duo was able to break serve, all they had to do was hold serve, emerging with an 8-5 victory to end the slate of doubles matches.

Normally paired with Lindsay Murphy, a team that has crafted a solid 5-2 record in the seven previously played doubles matches, head coach Mike Benson decided to switch things up a bit, and paired Mouzes with Kolibas for Saturday's event.

The decision reaped immediate rewards as Kolibas/Mouzes ended up earning the only point for Cal Lutheran against their ranked opposition as Claremont-Mudd-Scripps ended up taking all six singles matches to hand CLU an 8-1 loss.

The Regals will return to the familiar confines of the Poulson Tennis Center on Monday when they face Pacific Lutheran in their final non-conference home event of the season. That match is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m.

Benson Climbs CLU Coaching Wins List

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:00:00 PST

PASADENA, Calif. - Cal Lutheran took to the courts on the road Friday afternoon and defeated Caltech in its conference opener. The Regals earn their first win over an NCAA Division III opponent and snap a three-match losing skid with the victory.

Results: CLU 7, CIT 2 - F

As the last team to begin conference play Cal Lutheran succeeded in getting off to a strong start on the road knowing its next two road SCIAC opponents including nationally ranked squads No. 16 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Apr. 2) and No. 7 Pomona-Pitzer (Apr. 7).

CLU earned six of its seven team points in convincing fashion including a pair of 8-3 doubles victories by the teams of Jordan Leckness and Holly Beaman, along with Lauren Toohey and Lacey Gormley.

Toohey dropped the first set of her singles match with Jessica Yeung before finishing off the No. 5 match 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-4) in a super tiebreak. No other winning Regals player surrendered more than three games in a set.

Caltech's Rebekah Kitto was a part of both team points for the Beavers winning at the top spot in both singles and doubles play. She won 6-1, 6-2 over CLU's Kim Kolibas and teamed up with Jessica Yu for an 8-4 win in doubles play.

The victory pushed third year head coach Mike Benson's CLU record to 23-26 moving him unofficially into second place all-time and past former coach Ben Roberson (2005-07).

Cal Lutheran (4-3, 1-0 SCIAC) will head out to CMS (12-1, 3-0 SCIAC) on Saturday, Apr. 2 scheduled for a 10 a.m. first serve.