SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Throughout the summer, the Sacramento State athletics department will take a look back and honor the student-athletes who have made the biggest impact on their sport over the last 10 years.
To be eligible for the all-decade team, a student-athlete must have competed at least one year in their sport between the 2000-01 and 2009-10 academic years, and must have completed their eligibility as a Hornet, or be an active member of the team.
Today marks the announcement of the men’s tennis all-decade team. The squad consists of six players listed in alphabetical order.
Kiryl Harbatsiuk (2008-pres.)
Will enter his senior season in 2011, but is already a two-time Big Sky Conference MVP and three-time first team all-league selection...is one of two players in school history to receive Big Sky MVP honors on multiple occasions...has a career dual-match singles record of 65-11, and 52-20 in doubles...became the first and only Hornet men’s tennis player to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship...also part of the first Hornet tandem (along with Anton Stryhas) to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship...this past season, he went 26-1 in dual singles play as the team’s No. 1 player with his only loss coming in a super tiebreaker to the seventh-ranked player in the nation...will carry a school-record 25-match singles winning streak into next season...ranked as high as 40th in the nation by the ITA during the 2010 season, the highest ranking ever received by a Hornet men’s tennis player...has lost to just one unranked player over the last two years...reached the Round of 16 of the 2009 NCAA Doubles Championship after upsetting the second-ranked and No. 3 seed tandem from LSU.
Gabriel Loredo (2006-07)
Played two seasons for the Hornets after transferring from Wichita State...an all-conference selection both years, including a first team choice in 2006 and second team in 2007...posted career dual-match records of 35-12 in singles play and 36-9 in doubles...went 19-5 in singles as a senior, including 18-4 at the No. 3 slot in the team’s lineup...16 of his 19 victories that year came in straight sets...teamed with Junaid Hossain to go 19-3 at No. 1 doubles in 2006...named Big Sky Player of the Week four times throughout his two-year tenure...went 16-7 in singles play as a junior, including 1-0 at No. 1 and 15-7 at No. 2...a member of the 2007 squad that went 20-6 overall, 7-0 in conference, and won the program’s first Big Sky championship since 2003...the Hornets went a combined 32-17 overall and 12-1 in conference play during his career.
Chris Smith (1999-01)
Played three seasons with the Hornets after transferring from Fresno State...a three-time Big Sky all-conference selection, including a first team choice in 1999 and 2001, and second team in 2000...posted career dual-match records of 48-16 in singles, and 41-18 in doubles...played at Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the team’s lineup during his career...in singles play, he was 15-2 in 1999, 16-9 in 2000, and 17-5 in 2001...during Smith’s three-year tenure, the Hornets combined to go 54-16 overall and 20-1 against Big Sky teams...that included a pair of conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 1999 and 2001...during that 2001 season, Sacramento State went 20-3 overall, 7-0 in conference, and outscored its two opponents in the Big Sky Tournament by a 9-1 margin...that year, Smith was 17-5 in singles play, including 2-1 at No. 2 and 15-4 at No. 3...that included a 10-match winning streak towards the end of the season...named Big Sky Player of the Week three times during his career.
Jason Smith (2009-pres.)
Has spent two years with the Hornets and will enter his junior season with the squad in 2011...a first team all-conference selection both years...has career dual-match records of 41-14 in singles play and 33-16 in doubles...this past year, he went 23-6 in singles play, including 2-0 at No. 2, 19-5 at No. 3 and 2-1 at No. 4...had three winnings streaks of at least five matches long, including a season-best 10-match streak from Jan. 30-Mar. 6...went 7-4 against players from ranked teams...also had an 11-match winning streak in 2009...received his first national ranking by the ITA on April 20, 2010, and finished the year ranked 109th in the nation...his 18-9 doubles record this past year came with three different partners...began his career by going 3-6 in his first nine singles matches, but has posted a 38-8 mark since...during Smith’s two years, the Hornets are 36-19 overall and 19-1 when facing Big Sky teams...named Big Sky Player of the Week on a pair of occasions.
Anton Stryhas (2007-10)
Became the first Hornet men’s tennis player in school history to be named first team all-Big Sky Conference four times...also recipient of Big Sky MVP honors in 2008 after going 22-1 in dual singles play, including a 20-match winning streak to conclude the season...one of five Hornet men’s tennis players in school history to receive Big Sky MVP accolades...named the Sacramento State Senior Male Student-Athlete of the Year in the spring of 2010...also a second team academic all-district selection...recipient of the 2010 Big Sky’s Scholar-Athlete award, given to one male and one female from each of the Big Sky’s nine institutions based on their athletic and academic performance...named Big Sky Player of the Week on six occasions during his career...his four-year career dual-match records include 72-19 in singles play and 66-26 in doubles play...played his career primarily at the No. 1 or 2 spots in the singles lineup...in 2009, he combined with teammate Kiryl Harbatsiuk to become the first Hornet doubles team in school history to advance to the NCAA Doubles Championships, and reached the Round of 16...
Sherif Zaher (2001-02)
Played two seasons with the Hornets after spending the 2000 season with American University in Cairo, Egypt, and 1999 with the University of Georgia...recipient of Big Sky MVP and unanimous first team all-conference accolades both years...named the Sacramento State Male Student-Athlete of the Year and recipient of the Big Sky’s Scholar-Athlete Award in 2002...in his two years, Zaher tallied a 39-12 dual-match record at No. 1 singles for the Hornets while going 26-9 at No. 1 doubles...led Sacramento State to a 20-3 overall record in 2001, and a two-year record of 17-0 against Big Sky opposition...the Hornets won the Big Sky championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament during both his seasons...named the Big Sky Player of the Week on four occasions during his career...during his 2001 MVP season, he went 16-4 in singles play and 17-3 at doubles...teamed with Joseph Gilbert to win Fresno State’s Bulldog Classic doubles championship as a junior...was Sacramento State’s men’s tennis head coach from 2003-05, coaching the team to a 2003 Big Sky championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Throughout the summer, the Sacramento State athletics department will take a look back and honor the student-athletes who have made the biggest impact on their sport over the last 10 years.
