LOS ANGELES -- The Sacramento State men's tennis team's season came to a close with a 4-0 loss to host UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday afternoon at the LA Tennis Center.

With the loss, the Hornets, who entered the 64-team tournament as the No. 63 seed, still finish the season with a program-best 20-3 record. With the victory, UCLA, currently ranked third in the country and the No. 2 seed in the tournament, improved to 21-2 and advanced to the second round to face Southern Florida on Sunday. Southern Florida defeated South Carolina earlier in the day.

UCLA opened the contest by winning the doubles' point as the tandems of Jean-Noel Grinda/Jean-Julien Rojer and Lassi Ketola/Tobias Clemens each posted victories by the scores of 8-4 and 8-6, respectively.

The Bruins then won three singles matches to gain the necessary four points for victory. At No. 2, Grinda defeated the Hornets' Fabio Jesus, 6-2, 6-3, while Clemens (No. 3) was victorious over Chris Smith, 6-2, 6-0. At No. 6 singles, Rettenmaier defeated Nick Sheehan, 6-2, 6-0, to finish the Bruins' scoring.

Sacramento State junior Sherif Zaher (No. 1) was leading the Bruins' Rojer, 6-4, 2-4, when play was stopped after UCLA gained the necessary four points.

This season marked the second time in three years the Hornets advanced to the NCAA Tournament as the team was also crowned Big Sky Conference champions for the third time in four years. In addition, Sacramento State cracked the top 75 in the country for the first time in program history as it finished the regular season with a No. 74 ranking.

Today's match also marked the final competition for Hornet seniors Joseph Gilbert, Chris Smith and Kevin Vieira and sophomore Sylvain Iff. Vieira, who normally plays at No. 6 singles for the team, sat out today's match with a broken foot. After spending two seasons with Sacramento State, Iff will return to his hometown of Geneva, Switzerland, to attend school.

Each of the four were named to the Big Sky all-conference team. Smith was a unanimous first team selection and finished the year with a 17-5 singles record. Gilbert was also a first team selection and closed the season with a 17-3 singles record while Vieira was a second team selection after finishing with a 17-2 record. Iff was named honorable mention all-conference and finished the season with a 13-7 record.

UCLA 4, Sacramento State 0