With the loss, Sacramento State is eliminated from the tournament and finishes the season with a 12-11 overall record. The Hornets earned a first-round bye and the tournament’s No. 2 seed after winning a share of the Big Sky’s regular-season title with a 5-1 conference mark.

The Hornets had defeated Montana earlier this season in Missoula by the score of 6-1. However, that match was closer than the final score indicated as five of the six singles matches went three sets.

The Grizzlies (11-10) will advance to tomorrow’s Big Sky championship match to face No. 1 seed Montana State.

Sacramento State opened the match by winning two of the three doubles contests to gain the doubles point. That included the Hornets’ No. 1 tandem of Gabriel Loredo and Junaid Hossain improving their doubles mark this season to 19-3 after defeating Montana’s No. 1 duo by the score of 8-2.

The Grizzlies, however, bounced back to win four singles matches and gain the necessary four points for victory. Montana’s Jan Steenekamp knocked off Hossain at the No. 1 spot by the score of 6-3, 6-3. At No. 2, Loredo was able to beat Stuart Wing, 6-3, 6-4, to give Sacramento State a short-lived 2-1 lead.

At No. 3, Montana’s Colin Dektar beat Warwick Foy in three sets, 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 and at No. 4, the Grizzlies’ Felipe Raw defeated Thomas Morton, 7-6, 6-0. After losing the first set, 6-1, Montana’s Varun Giri bounced back to win the next two sets from Ramon Perez at the No. 5 spot, 6-4, 6-4. The match at No. 6 singles featuring Sacramento State’s Hague Van Dillen and Montana’s Josh Katz did not finish because the Grizzlies had already clinched victory.

Loredo finishes the season with a team-best 15-7 singles record this year while also teaming with Hossain to post the Hornets’ top doubles mark of 19-3. Foy finished 13-10 in singles play, Perez 11-11, Hossain 11-12, Morton 8-13 and Van Dillen 7-14.

Sacramento State will return four players in 2007 (Foy, Loredo, Perez and Van Dillen) and next year’s recruiting class was ranked the 18th-best in the nation among Div. I teams by the Tennis Recruiting Network.

DOUBLES

#1 Loredo/Hossain (SAC) def. Dektar/Katz (UM), 8-2

#2 Perez/Foy (SAC) def. Raw/Wing (UM), 8-5

#3 Steenekamp/Giri (UM) def. Komorniczak/Van Dillen (SAC), 8-5

SINGLES

#1 Jan Steenekamp (UM) def. Junaid Hossain (SAC), 6-3, 6-3

#2 Gabriel Loredo (SAC) def. Stuart Wing (UM), 6-3, 6-4

#3 Colin Dektar (UM) def. Warwick Foy (SAC), 7-5, 6-7, 6-2

#4 Felipe Raw (UM) def. Thomas Morton (SAC), 7-6, 6-0

#5 Varun Giri (UM) def. Ramon Perez (SAC), 1-6, 6-4, 6-4

#6 Hague Van Dillen (SAC) vs. Josh Katz (UM), DNF