JARLKAGANOVA AND STRYHAS SWEEP BIG SKY TENNIS WEEKLY HONORS

3/4/2008

OGDEN, Utah - Sacramento State sophomore Anton Stryhas and junior Karina Jarlkaganova were named the Big Sky Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Players of the Week, as announced by the conference today.

Stryhas, a native of Minsk, Belarus, went 5-0 last week at the No. 2 singles position, leading the Hornets to a 2-3 record on the road. In singles action, Stryhas collected wins over Johnny Parkes of No. 58-ranked New Mexico (7-5, 3-0 ret.), Pacific’s Artem Gramma (4-6, 6-1, 6-3), New Mexico State’s Roman Stoisavljevic (6-2, 3-6, 6-4), UT Arlington’s David Costa (6-1, 6-0) and Utah’s Othman Zerouali-Oua (6-4, 6-2).

Stryhas teamed up with freshman Kiryl Harbatsiuk at the No. 1 doubles to post a 3-1 record. The duo picked up victories over teams from Pacific, New Mexico State and UT Arlington. Their only loss came at the hands of New Mexico’s No. 45-ranked doubles team of Max Jones and Kamil Pajkowski. The doubles portion of Sunday’s match against Utah was not played due to high winds.

He is currently 9-1 on the season, with nine of those 10 matches coming at the No. 2 position. He has won seven-straight singles matches.

Jarlkaganova was equally as dominate, posting a 3-0 record at the No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions as the Hornets went 3-0 on the week, including 2-0 in Big Sky play. Jarlkaganova collected a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Greyce Farias at No. 4 singles against Weber State, before defeating Alyssa Ferry of Portland State 6-1, 6-2 and Clara Schuhmacher of Pacific 6-1, 6-2, both at No. 5 singles. All told, the Toronto, Ontario, Canada native dropped only six games in her six sets played in singles action.

She was also 3-0 at the No. 2 doubles spot with partner Luba Schifris. The tandem defeated Weber State’s Gabriela Venditto and Keya Adamson 8-0, Portland State’s Alyssa Ferry and Caitlin Stocking 8-1, and Svenja Arens and Sasha Fisher of Pacific 8-4.

Jarlkaganova improved her spring dual singles record to 9-1, and she has won a season-high five matches in a row.

For Stryhas, the honor marked his second Player of the Week honor of the season and the fourth of his career. Jarlkaganova earned Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.

The men's tennis team returns to action on March 7 as they travel to San Francisco at 1 p.m. The No. 32 ranked women's tennis team faces off against Nevada in a neutral site affair on March 8 in Eugene, Ore. The newly released ranking is the highest mark for the Hornets since April 5, 2005, which was the last time they reached No. 32 in the rankings.