MEN’S TENNIS BEATS MONTANA, COMPLETES UNDEFEATED CONFERENCE SEASON

4/6/2011

Sophomore Aliaksandr Malko was one of five Hornets to win their singles matches today

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento State’s Kiryl Harbatsiuk, Jason Smith, Marko Starcevic, Javier Millan and Aliaksandr Malko were each victorious in singles play to lead the Hornets to a 6-1 victory over Montana in a Big Sky Conference men’s tennis match Wednesday at the Rio Del Oro Racquet Club.

With the victory, the Hornets (12-9, 8-0) concluded the conference season with an undefeated record for the ninth time since joining the Big Sky for the 1996-97 academic year. Sacramento State has clinched the Big Sky’s regular season championship and will assume the No. 1 seed in the Big Sky Tournament later this month (April 23-24) in Bozeman, Mont. The Hornets still have four non-conference matches remaining on the schedule prior to the tournament.

Montana dropped to 7-7 overall and 1-2 with the loss.

The Hornets had little trouble against the Grizzlies, sweeping all three doubles matches to pick up the doubles point.

Harbatsiuk (6-2, 6-3), Starcevic (6-3, 6-2), Millan (6-3, 6-1) and Malko (7-6, 6-4) were each victorious in straight sets while Smith won his match at No. 2 by a 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 score. Harbatsiuk, who is currently ranked 31st in the nation by the ITA, won his 19th consecutive singles match while Millan (nine straight) and Starcevic (eight straight) also improved upon their lengthy winning streaks.

The tandems of Harbatsiuk/Starcevic (8-5), Smith/Malko (8-4) and Lorentzen/Millan (8-4) each won in doubles play for the Hornets.

Sacramento State will play three matches in three days later this week when they travel to UC Irvine (Friday, April 8), Pepperdine (Saturday, April 9) and Cal Poly (Sunday, April 10).

Sacramento State 6, Montana 1

Singles competition
1. #31 HARBATSIUK, Kiryl (SACMEN) def. Carl Kuschke (UM) 6-2, 6-3
2. SMITH, Jason (SACMEN) def. Josh Smith (UM) 6-4, 4-6, 10-7
3. STARCEVIC, Marko (SACMEN) def. Michael Facey (UM) 6-3, 6-2
4. MILLAN, Javier (SACMEN) def. Andrew Warren (UM) 6-3, 6-1
5. MALKO, Aliaksandr (SACMEN) def. David Cysneiros (UM) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
6. Ethan Vaughn (UM) def. LORENTZEN, Josh (SACMEN) 3-6, 7-5, 10-8

Doubles competition
1. HARBATSIUK, Kiryl/STARCEVIC, Marko (SACMEN) def. Carl Kuschke/Josh Smith (UM) 8-5
2. SMITH, Jason/MALKO, Aliaksandr (SACMEN) def. Michael Facey/David Cysneiros (UM) 8-4
3. LORENTZEN, Josh/MILLAN, Javier (SACMEN) def. Ben Demarois/Andrew Warren (UM) 8-4

Match Notes:
Montana 7-7, 1-2
Sacramento State 12-9, 8-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,3,4,2,6,5)