SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the fifth consecutive year, the Sacramento State women’s tennis team will appear in the NCAA Tournament, it was announced by the NCAA selection committee today. The Hornets, who earned an automatic berth into the tournament by virtue of winning the Big Sky Conference title for the fifth straight season, will take on Fresno State in the first round on Friday, May 12.The matchup with the 23rd-ranked Bulldogs (18-6) marks the second time the teams have met this season. Earlier in the year, Fresno State defeated the Hornets 7-0.
The match will be hosted at Cal, one of 16 teams hosting a regional in the 64-team field, as the Hornets (14-8) and Bulldogs will square off at the Hellman Tennis Complex, May 12 at 1 p.m. The other first-round matchup features 11th-ranked Cal (16-7) and Western Michigan (20-5) at 10 a.m., with the victor in that match facing the winner of Fresno State/Sacramento State. The second-round match will take place on Saturday, May 13, at noon.
The Hornets Margarita Karnaukhova, who was recently named Big Sky Conference MVP and the only athlete in the conference’s 43-year history to earn the honor four consecutive seasons, is currently ranked 74th in the nation.
In the team’s previous four NCAA Tournament appearances, the Hornets lost in the first round to Stanford (2002), USC (2003), Fresno State (2004) and BYU (2005). The losses to Stanford, USC and BYU came on the road, while the loss to Fresno State was at a neutral site (Berkeley, Calif.).
Sacramento State faced a total of six opponents that made the NCAA Tournament field this year, posting a 1-5 record against those teams. That includes a victory over Rice, and losses to top-seeded Stanford, Fresno State, Pepperdine, Harvard and New Mexico.
