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

4/20/2010

For the fourth straight year, the Sacramento State men’s and women’s tennis programs will host the Big Sky Conference Tournament this Saturday-Sunday, April 24-25, at the Gold River Racquet Club in Gold River, Calif. Different from last year’s event, only four teams qualify for the men’s and women’s tournaments with semifinal play taking place on Saturday and the championship on Sunday. In years past, six teams reached the tournament, but the field was scaled down to four teams in 2010 and quarterfinal play eliminated.

The Hornet men and women both won the league’s regular season title and have earned the No. 1 seed for the tournament. 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. Live stats for both championship matches will be offered inside the tournament home page by clicking here.

Sacramento State’s women’s team (17-6, 8-0) will attempt to win its ninth consecutive Big Sky Tournament championship while the men’s team (15-11, 7-1) will attempt to win its eighth tournament title in the last 13 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 14-16). The Hornet men (1999, 2001-03, 2007-08) and women (2002-09) have combined to make 14 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1999.
  
BIG SKY TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
 
Saturday, April 24
10 a.m. Women’s Semifinals
No. 4 Montana State (8-10, 5-3) vs. No. 1 Sacramento State (17-6, 8-0)
No. 3 Montana (10-11, 6-2) vs. No. 2 Northern Arizona (12-6, 7-1)
 
Sunday, April 25
10 a.m. Women’s Championship
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2

MEN’S TOURNAMENT

Saturday, April 24
2 p.m. Men’s Semifinals
No. 4 Montana (9-6, 6-2) vs. No. 1 Sacramento State (15-11, 7-1)
No. 3 Weber State (10-12, 6-2) vs. No. 2 Northern Arizona (12-8, 6-2)
 
Sunday, April 25
2 p.m. Men’s Championship
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2


A LOOK AT THE TOURNAMENT FIELD

The Big Sky Tournament features the top four teams in the nine-member league. On the women’s side, Sacramento State will take on No. 4 seed Montana State (8-10, 5-3) at 10 a.m. in one semifinal on Saturday while No. 2 Northern Arizona (12-6, 7-1) will face No. 3 Montana (10-11, 6-2) in the other semifinal at 10 a.m. Eastern Washington, Weber State, Northern Colorado, Idaho State and Portland State did not qualify for the women’s tournament.

In the men’s bracket, No. 1 seed Sacramento State will face No. 4 Montana (9-6, 6-2) in one semifinal at 2 p.m., and No. 2 Northern Arizona (12-8, 6-2) will take on No. 3 Weber State (10-12, 6-2) in the other semifinal at 2 p.m. Northern Arizona was the only Big Sky team to defeat Sacramento State this year, a 6-1 win in Flagstaff in the Hornets’ season opener. Portland State, Eastern Washington, Montana State, Idaho State and Northern Colorado did not qualify for the men’s tournament.


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 nine years than the Sacramento State women’s tennis team. Since 2002, the women have won 70 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 54-2, posting 7-0 victories in six of the eight matches, and 6-1 victories in the other two. In addition, Sacramento State has accumulated five Big Sky Player of the Week awards, including four different players garnering the award at least once.
 
The team, which is currently 17-6 overall and 8-0 in the Big Sky, has won each of the last eight Big Sky 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 each of the last seven years.

The top four spots in Sacramento State’s singles lineup will consist of Tatsiana Kapshai (No. 1), Rebeca Delgado (No. 2), Maria Meliuk (No. 3) and Clarisse Baca (No. 4). The last two spots in the lineup could be filled by any of the following four players - Aileen Tsan, Zalina Nazarova, Milica Zivanovic or Gayane Sarkisian. Dual-match singles records as well as Big Sky records for each player is as follows: Kapshai (16-7, 8-0), Delgado (14-5, 5-1), Meliuk (7-11, 6-0), Baca (14-7, 6-0), Nazarova (7-2, 6-0), Zivanovic (8-5, 7-1), Tsan (9-4, 2-0) and Sarkisian (6-2, 6-0). Of those eight players, six are underclassmen (three freshmen, three sophomores) with Tsan as the lone senior and Zivanovic a junior.

The team has combined to go 46-18 in doubles matches, including a 12-2 record from the combination of Delgado and Kapshai. Sacramento State has used 14 different doubles combinations this season with the only real consistent doubles partners being Delgado and Kapshai.


A LOOK AT THE SACRAMENTO STATE MEN’S TEAM
 
The Sacramento State men (15-11, 7-1) have lost four straight matches heading into the tournament. However, all four of those losses came to ranked opposition. In fact, of the Hornets’ 11 losses this season, nine have come against ranked teams.

Not counting the 6-1 loss to Northern Arizona to begin the season, Sacramento State’s seven Big Sky victories have come by a combined 46-3 winning margin. Besides Northern Arizona, Montana State (5-2) and Montana (6-1) were the only teams to take points off the Hornets this season. Dating back to 2006, the Hornets have won 29 of the last 30 regular season matches against conference competition. In fact, the 6-1 loss to NAU snapped a run of 23 straight regular season wins over Big Sky teams.

Since joining the conference in 1996-97, the Hornets have won nine regular season titles (1998-99, 2001-03, 2007-10), seven tournament championships (1998-99, 2001-03, 2007, 2009) and have advanced to the NCAA Tournament six times (1999, 2001-03, 2007, 2009). The Big Sky champion did not receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament until the 1999 season.
  
This year, the team has been led by the dominant play of the team’s top three singles players. Kiryl Harbatsiuk (25-1), Anton Stryhas (15-9) and Jason Smith (21-5) have combined for a 61-15 singles record. Harbatsiuk currently has a school-record 24-match winning streak, and is a remarkable 17-0 when playing at No. 1 in the team’s lineup. The combination of Harbatsiuk (2009) and Stryhas (2008) have won the last two Big Sky MVP awards and Harbatsiuk, who is ranked 84th in the nation, is the front runner to earn the award for the second straight year. Smith, who is just a sophomore, has posted a 2-0 record at No. 2, 17-4 at No. 3 and 2-1 at No. 4. The trio of Harbatsiuk, Stryhas and Smith have combined to win six Big Sky Player of the Week awards this year with Harbatsiuk winning the award four times.

Dual match overall and conference records for the remainder of team’s singles lineup are as follows: Holden Ching (10-15, 6-1), Marko Starcevic (13-12, 5-2) and Tim Lantin (5-14, 3-2). The Hornets are 48-27 in doubles matches with the combination of Harbatsiuk and Starcevic posting an 11-4 mark.