Thursday, October 4, 2007

COLLEGE NEWS

GENERAL NEWS
MEN'S NEWS
WOMEN'S NEWS
OPEN DATES

GENERAL NEWS
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Sceney Named Head Coach of LMU Men's Tennis

Brad Sceney will serve as head coach of the Loyola Marymount men's tennis program, Director of Athletics Dr. William Husak announced today. Sceney comes to the bluff after serving as the Director of Tennis at The Paseo Club in Valencia, Calif., and enjoying an impressive collegiate career at Pepperdine from 1995-98.

"We are excited to add Brad to our LMU family," Husak said. "Brad has championship experience, both collegiately in the West Coast Conference, and professionally on the ATP Tour. We look forward to watching his leadership in action as he begins his work with our program."

An All-American while at Pepperdine, Sceney helped the Waves to a top-10 ranking each of his four seasons in Malibu. His mark of 85 career singles victories is still the Pepperdine record today. In 1996, Sceney won the All-American Doubles Championship.

Following his collegiate career, Sceney spent time in the professional tennis ranks, earning rankings in the top-600 in singles and top-300 in doubles after just one year on the ATP Tour.

"I am excited to return to the collegiate athletics world," Sceney said. "LMU is a fantastic place to work and play, with a beautiful campus and great facilities that provide the basis for a top tennis program. I look forward to working toward that end with the team and staff."

Sceney, a native of Australia, won the 1992 Australian Open Junior Doubles Championship. He was the second-ranked junior in Australia from 1986-1992 and was a member of the country's junior national team.

For the last nine years, Sceney has worked with Topseed Tennis Academy, a corporation that owns and operates three tennis clubs and one sports club in Southern California. Hired as a tennis instructor in 1999, Sceney advanced to the title of Director of Tennis at one of the company's sites, The Paseo Club in Valencia, Calif. There, he manages a staff of 10 tennis professionals and coordinates the tennis program for approximately 3,500 members.

Sceney and his wife, Katy, currently reside in Valencia. Also a WCC tennis alumnus, Katy played for the Portland Pilots from 1998-2001. The two are the proud parents of daughter Elle (2) and are expecting their second child in March.

Sceney, third-year Assistant Coach Renouk Wijemanne, and the Lions open the 2007 fall season this weekend at the UC Irvine Invitational.

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MEN'S NEWS
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All-American Championships Main Draw Begins Today

TULSA, Okla. - The main draw of the event begins on Thursday. In singles, reigning NCAA Champion Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) is the No. 1 seed and will meet No. 33 ranked Zach Granger of Utah in the round of 64. Steven Moneke, a junior from Alten-Busick, Germany, is the tournament’s No. 2 seed.

The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships include five days of qualifying events that precede the October 4-7 main draw. A 128-player pre-qualifying tournament takes place Sept. 29-30. This feeds into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments Oct.1-3, which then feeds into the 64-player, 32-doubles team main draws.

Main Draw Singles
Main Draw Doubles
Qualifying Singles Draw
Qualifying Doubles Draw
Qualifying Consolation Draw
Prequalifying Singles Draw

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WOMEN'S NEWS
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No. 1 Falcon Opens Tennis Season at ITA All-American

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -  Megan Falcon of the LSU women’s tennis team is set to compete at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships presented by Fila on Thursday.

Falcon, the nation’s top-ranked singles player, will take on No. 20 Amanda Taylor of Vanderbilt tomorrow. Falcon and Robinson are ranked No. 13 in the country in doubles and will compete against 22nd-ranked Melissa Mang and Tory Zawacki of Duke.

“This is a good opportunity to compete at a high level against some of the best players in the country,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “We just need to play loose and relaxed and stay focused on doing the right things on the court.”

Falcon, a junior from Alameda, Calif., played as a qualifier at the All-American Championships in 2006 and won the consolation singles title in the main draw. Falcon’s only loss in the tournament last season was to Melanie Gloria of Fresno State, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation.

On her road to the consolation championship a year ago, Falcon defeated nine ranked opponents to claim the title. At the time she won the title Falcon was unranked.

Carrying that momentum from the All-American Championships, Falcon finished last season ranked No. 2 nationally with an impressive 38-3 record including a perfect 11-0 record in SEC play. Falcon finished 26-3 on the season against ranked opponents and advanced all the way to the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Tournament, a first in the history of the program.

The 2007 All-American Championships marks the first action of the fall season for Falcon, who has rested after a long summer in which she competed in various tournaments, including the Pan American Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

The tournament will run through Sunday at the Riviera Tennis Club which has hosted the All-American Championships since 1988.

Riviera/ITA All-American Championships presented by Fila
Day 1 Schedule
October 4

Singles
No. 1 Megan Falcon (LSU) vs. No. 20 Amanda Taylor (Vanderbilt), TBD

Main Draw Singles and Doubles
Qualifying Singles  Doubles 
Qualifying Consolation (note: updated again on 10/4)
Prequalifying Singles  Doubles

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OPEN DATES
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October 5 - 8, 2007 - Treibly Men's Invite @ Bollettieri Tennis Academy
Email streibly@imgworld.com

Spring 2008 - Men - The Citadel - Div I
Anyone looking to spring break in Charleston, SC or travel to play matches. Including us (The Citadel) there are 2 other Div. 1 schools in town all within 15 minutes.
Contact: Toby Simpson  Phone: 843-953-4845   Email: Toby.Simpson@citadel.edu

Need an Opponent?  Looking to Fill an Event? - Bob Larson's Daily Tennis - College News is again proud to offer an Open Dates posting service at no charge to our subscribers. To submit an open date posting, Click Here or send an email to cort@tennisnews.com.

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