Brown Tans Lady Lions Tennis Team

The Loyola Marymount women’s tennis team apparently didn’t take its Thursday match against Brown University very seriously.

Perhaps that’s why the Lions lost 5-4 to Brown, 3-7 in the Ivy League.

The absence of Loyola’s No. 3 player, Christi Gonzalez and No. 4 Doreen Delgado really weakened the Lions’ lineup.

The two players weren’t hurt or anything. Gonzalez was out of town on vacation and Delgado couldn’t get out of class in time for her 10 a.m. singles match.

The event seemed informal for other reasons as well. Only one Lion, top player Kris Anderson, wore the team uniform.

And Coach Jamie Sanchez wasn’t even present to get his team started. He was tied up in a meeting.

“I guess coach scheduled this at the last minute,” said Anderson. “We really didn’t coordinate things.”

That includes the lineup.

Only Loyola’s top two players, Anderson and junior Denise Delgado played at their set positions. Sophomore Joli Stinar, who usually plays No. 5 singles, moved up to third in the lineup and freshman Shalita Masih played No. 4 singles.

Sophomores Tina Amstutz and Andrea Denish, who usually don’t play singles, filled the No. 5 and 6 positions.

“We’re playing with our backs to the wall,” said Sanchez as he watched one of his players lose. “But it’s OK. We’re still in this match.”

After singles, the Lions were down 2-4. Both Anderson and Denise had straight set victories, while the rest of their teammates--with the exception of Stinar, who lost in three--fell in straight sets.

Denise had little trouble wiping out Brown’s Jill Dunhel (6-0, 6-1), who came off the court in tears after her 45-minute match.

Anderson, a junior from Arizona, defeated Samantha Shea 6-3, 6-3. Anderson led throughout the match except for a brief moment in the second set when she fell 2-3.

But Anderson won the next two games with aggressive net play and strong serving. That gave her a 4-3 lead at the changeover. Anderson broke Shea’s serve to make it 5-3 then held serve for the match.

“I made a lot of errors,” Anderson said. “If I would have played all my other matches like I played today, I would have gotten blasted off the court.”

Since Anderson’s partner was vacationing, she teamed up with Stinar for doubles. The two defeated Brown’s Dunhel and Gillian Lemad 6-0, 6-3.

Doreen, who barely made it to the court on time after class, teamed up with sister Denise for a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Brown’s Linda Molumphy and Shea.

The victories tied the score at four, but Loyola’s third doubles team of Amstutz and Jill Quartararo couldn’t pull out a victory. They fell 6-2, 6-2 to Brown’s Sarah Howard and Stephanie Hudemann.

The loss makes Loyola’s record 12-12. The Lions will take next week off for the spring break.