MEN’S TENNIS SPLITS A PAIR OF ROAD MATCHES IN PORTLAND
2/10/2011
PORTLAND, Ore. -- For the second time in a week, the Sacramento State men’s tennis team played a doubleheader on the road. This time, the Hornets traveled north where they fell in the morning to Portland, 4-3, before returning later in the afternoon to knock off Big Sky Conference foe Portland State by a 4-3 score.
Last Friday, Sacramento State defeated both Weber State (5-2) and Idaho State (6-1) on the road to open the conference season.
Today, the Hornets were locked in a pair of tight matches as both were decided by just one point. Sacramento State’s No. 1 player (senior Kiryl Harbatsiuk) and No. 2 player (junior Jason Smith) were the only Hornets victorious in both their singles matches today.
With the split, Sacramento State is now 3-3 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the Big Sky.
In the morning match, Portland (5-1) gained a very valuable doubles point. After the two teams split doubles matches at No. 1 and No. 3, the Hornet tandem of Aliaksandr Malko and Javier Millan went to a tiebreaker where they took what looked like a commanding 6-3 lead. However, Malko and Millan could not pull out the tiebreaker despite having three match points and eventually lost by a 9-7 score.
The two teams split their singles matches with Harbatsiuk, Smith and Marko Starcevic winning at Nos. 1-3. However, Portland won at Nos. 4-6 to win the match.
Against Portland State (2-4, 0-1), the Hornets rested both Harbatsiuk and Starcevic during the doubles portion of the match and used junior Blake Emery for the first time all season in both singles and doubles play. The Hornets wound up losing the doubles point, but picked up singles wins from Harbatsiuk (6-4, 6-2), Smith (6-4, 6-4), Malko (6-2, 6-2) and Millan (7-5, 6-3) to win the match. Emery (7-5, 6-4) and Starcevic (6-7, 7-5, 10-8) both narrowly dropped their matches.
The Hornets continue their road trip on Saturday with a match at 37th-ranked Tulsa.
Sacramento State vs Portland State
Feb 10, 2011 at Portland, Ore.
(Club Green Meadows)
Sacramento State 4, Portland State 3
Singles competition
1. #16 HARBATSIUK, Kiryl (SACMEN) def. Chris Rice (PSU) 6-4, 6-2
2. SMITH, Jason (SACMEN) def. Alex VanDerschelden (PSU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Mitch Somach (PSU) def. STARCEVIC, Marko (SACMEN) 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 10-8
4. MALKO, Aliaksandr (SACMEN) def. Roman Margoulis (PSU) 6-2, 6-2
5. MILLAN, Javier (SACMEN) def. Matt Erickson (PSU) 7-5, 6-3
6. Jeff Cero (PSU) def. EMERY, Blake (SACMEN) 7-5, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Chris Rice/Roman Margoulis (PSU) def. MILLAN, Javier/MALKO, Aliaksandr (SACMEN) 8-6
2. Alex VanDerschelden/Mitch Somach (PSU) def. LORENTZEN, Josh/SMITH, Jason (SACMEN) 8-1
3. EMERY, Blake/DeGUZMAN, Joe (SACMEN) def. Vetu Mam/Jeff Cero (PSU) 8-2
Match Notes:
Sacramento State 3-3, 3-0
Portland State 2-4, 0-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,2,1,5,3,6)
Sacramento State vs Portland
Feb 10, 2011 at Portland, Ore.
(Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center)
Portland 4, Sacramento State 3
Singles competition
1. #16 HARBATSIUK, Kiryl (SACMEN) def. Adam Ferrero (POR) 7-5, 6-2
2. SMITH, Jason (SACMEN) def. Geoff Hernandez (POR) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6)
3. STARCEVIC, Marko (SACMEN) def. Bryan Thorp (POR) 6-1, 6-4
4. Michel Hukwo (POR) def. MALKO, Aliaksandr (SACMEN) 6-3, 6-2
5. Ratan Gill (POR) def. MILLAN, Javier (SACMEN) 6-3, 6-3
6. Justin Guay (POR) def. LORENTZEN, Josh (SACMEN) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. HARBATSIUK, Kiryl/STARCEVIC, Marko (SACMEN) def. Bryan Thorp/Adam Ferrero (POR) 8-1
2. Justin Guay/Michel Hukwo (POR) def. MALKO, Aliaksandr/MILLAN, Javier (SACMEN) 9-8 (9-7)
3. Geoff Hernandez/Ratan Gill (POR) def. LORENTZEN, Josh/SMITH, Jason (SACMEN) 8-6
Match Notes:
Sacramento State 2-3
Portland 5-1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3,1,2,4,6,5)
