MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TENNIS HOSTS THIS WEEKEND’S BIG SKY TOURNAMENT

4/16/2012

For the fifth time in six years, the Sacramento State men’s and women’s tennis programs will host the Big Sky Conference Tournament this Saturday-Sunday, April 21-22, at the Gold River Racquet Club in Gold River, Calif.

Only four teams from the nine-member league qualify for the men’s and women’s tournaments with semifinal play taking place on Saturday and the championship on Sunday.

The Hornet men and women both qualified for the tournament as the women’s team will serve as the No. 1 seed for the 11th straight season after completing a perfect 8-0 conference season. The men’s team will be the No. 2 seed after going 7-1 in league play despite using five freshmen in most of the matches this year.

The women’s tournament will begin on Saturday at 10 a.m. with a pair of semifinal matches, and the men’s tournament also begins on Saturday, with two semifinal matches taking place at 2 p.m. The women’s championship match will take place at 10 a.m. on Sunday, while the men’s title match will be at 2 p.m. Admission is free to all matches.

Sacramento State’s women’s team (15-9, 8-0) will attempt to win its 11th consecutive Big Sky Tournament championship while the men’s team (9-12, 7-1) will attempt to win its 10th tournament title in 15 years.

The winner of the Big Sky Tournament receives the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament (first and second rounds take place May 11-13). The Hornet men (1999, 2001-03, 2007, 2009-11) and women (2002-11) have combined to make 18 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1999.
 
BIG SKY TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
 
Saturday, April 21
10 a.m. Women’s Semifinals
No. 1 Sacramento State (15-9, 8-0) vs. No. 4 Northern Colorado (9-8, 5-3)
No. 2 Northern Arizona (10-12, 7-1) vs. No. 3 Montana (13-7, 6-2)
 
Sunday, April 22
10 a.m. Women’s Championship
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2

MEN’S TOURNAMENT

Saturday, April 21
2 p.m. Men’s Semifinals
No. 1 Montana (15-4, 8-0) vs. No. 4 Weber State (9-12, 5-3)
No. 2 Sacramento State (9-12, 7-1) vs. No. 3 Eastern Washington (12-8, 6-2)
 
Sunday, April 22
2 p.m. Men’s Championship
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2

A LOOK AT THE SACRAMENTO STATE WOMEN’S TEAM

You would be hard pressed to find a team in any sport within the Big Sky Conference that has been more dominant the last 11 years than the Sacramento State women’s tennis team. Since 2002, the women have won 90 straight matches over Big Sky competition, a streak which includes regular season and tournament matches. This year, the Hornets outscored conference foes by a score of 52-4, posting 7-0 victories in five of the eight matches.
 
The team, which is currently 15-9 overall and 8-0 in the Big Sky, has won each of the last 10 Big Sky Tournament championships and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament each of those years, a streak which began in 2002. In addition, a Sacramento State player has earned Big Sky Most Valuable Player honors every year since 2003.

Most of the season, Sacramento State’s lineup has consisted of Tatsiana Kapshai (No. 1), Rebeca Delgado (No. 2), Clarisse Baca (No. 3), Sophie Lohscheidt (No. 4), Katharina Knoebl (No. 5) and Maria Meliuk (No. 6). Delgado has a 15-8 singles record this year and Meliuk is 14-7. Kapshai, Baca and Delgado all have won six straight singles matches heading into the tournament.

The team has combined to go 44-23 in doubles matches, including a 15-5 record from the combination of Delgado and Kapshai at No. 1. The No. 2 tandem of Meliuk and Baca are 13-7, and have won five straight matches.

A LOOK AT THE SACRAMENTO STATE MEN’S TEAM
 
The Sacramento State men (9-12, 7-1) have won six of the last eight matches after beginning the season with a 3-10 record. The Hornets are fielding the youngest team in recent memory, as the squad uses freshmen at the Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 singles slots. Five of the team’s 12 losses have come against ranked opposition.

Sacramento State’s lone conference loss came in a nail-biting 4-3 thriller at Montana. That loss snapped a 24-match winning streak against Big Sky teams that dated back to 2010. The Hornets have not been as dominant in Big Sky play as years past, but the team has still found a way to grab the No. 2 seed despite the roster’s collegiate inexperience. In its matchups against the other teams in the Big Sky Tournament, Sacramento State beat Eastern Washington at home (4-3) earlier this year, and defeated Weber State at home by a 6-1 score.

Since joining the conference in 1996-97, the Hornets have won 10 regular season titles (1998-99, 2001-03, 2007-11), nine tournament championships (1998-99, 2001-03, 2007, 2009-11) and have advanced to the NCAA Tournament eight times (1999, 2001-03, 2007, 2009-11). The Big Sky champion did not receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament until the 1999 season.

This year’s squad has been led by the dominant play of freshman Marek Marksoo, who began the year as the team’s No. 5 singles player and has worked his way up to No. 2 because of his strong play. Marksoo enters the tournament with a 16-3 singles record and has won 10 straight matches. The likely singles lineup for the men will be junior Aliaksandr Malko (No. 1), Marksoo, senior Javier Millan (No. 3) and freshmen Sean Kolar (No. 4), Roy Brandys (No. 5) and Tom Miller (No. 6). Miller was moved into the singles lineup a week ago and responded with victories over opponents from Pacific and Idaho State.

The Hornets have won the doubles point in five straight matches, after beginning the season by dropping the doubles point in 13 of its first 15 contests (in matches where doubles were contested). Overall, the team is 24-30 in doubles with the combination of Kolar and Miller posting a team-best 8-4 record.