With the victory, Fresno State improved to 19-6 this season and will face host Cal in the second round of the tournament tomorrow at noon. Cal knocked off Western Michigan, 4-0, in the regional’s other first round matchup this morning.

With the loss, Sacramento State, which is ranked 60th in the nation, concludes its season with a 14-9 overall record. For the second time in three years, the Hornets fell to Fresno State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as the Bulldogs defeated the Hornets, 4-3, in 2004. Fresno State also defeated the Hornets a little more than one month ago in Sacramento by the score of 7-0.

Sacramento State took a 1-0 lead in the match with a pair of doubles victories to earn the point. Freshmen Luba Schifris and Joyce Martinez Gutierrez defeated Fresno State’s Tinesta Rowe and Magdalena Tokarska, 8-3. After the Hornets’ Cecilia Helland and Karina Jarlkaganova were swept at No. 3 doubles, Sacramento State’s No. 1 tandem of Margarita Karnaukhova and Anastassia Lyssenko squeaked out a 9-8 (6) victory to win the doubles point for the Hornets.

In singles play, however, Fresno State posted four straight-set victories. At No. 3, the Bulldogs’ Lucia Sainz defeated Gutierrez, 6-4, 6-1, to tie the match at 1-1. At No. 2 singles, Katharina Winterhalter then knocked off Schifris, 6-3, 7-5, and Tokarska improved FSU’s lead to 3-1 by beating Jarlkaganova, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 4 singles. The Bulldogs clinched victory at the No. 5 singles spot after Jacqueline Haskett beat Cecilia Helland, 6-2, 6-2.

At No. 1 singles, Karnaukhova dropped the first set to 23rd-ranked Melanie Gloria, but the score was tied at 4-4 in the second set when the match ended. At No. 6 singles, Lyssenko won the first set, and was tied in the second, 5-5, with Bruna Paes. Those two matches did not finish because Fresno State already had the necessary four points for victory.

Although the Hornets’ season comes to an end today, Sacramento State won its fifth-consecutive Big Sky Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth-straight year despite a roster that featured five freshman and only two returners (Helland and Karnaukhova). The Hornets have not lost a Big Sky match since the 2002 season, a span of 34-consecutive victories over conference opposition.

The loss brings the remarkable intercollegiate career of Karnaukhova closer to an end. Karnaukhova, who became the first student-athlete in the 43-year history of the Big Sky Conference to earn four league MVP awards, will compete in both the NCAA Singles and Doubles championships later this month. The Krasnodar, Russia, native never lost a conference singles match during her career and has a 66-17 dual match singles record during her four-year tenure with the Hornets. She was the program’s first All-American in 2004, and was ranked as high as 14th in the nation.

Karnaukhova was one of four Hornets named first team all-Big Sky this year, joining Helland, Schifris and Gutierrez. All three will be back next year.

Sacramento State has a combined 96-29 record over the last five years, and has three seasons with at least 20 wins during the span.

NCAA Women’s Tennis First Round Results

#23 Fresno State 4, #60 Sacramento State 1

Doubles Results

1. Karnaukhova/Lyssenko (SAC) def. Sainz/Winterhalter (FSU), 9-8 (6)

2. Schifris/Gutierrez (SAC) def. Tinesta Rowe/Tokarska (FSU), 8-3

3. Gloria/Haskett (FSU) def. Helland/Jarlkaganova (SAC), 8-0

Singles Results

1. #23 Melanie Gloria (FSU) vs. #74 Margarita Karnaukhova (SAC), 6-4, 4-4, DNF

2. Katharina Winterhalter (FSU) def. Luba Schifris (SAC), 6-3, 7-5

3. Lucia Sainz (FSU) def. Joyce Martinez Gutierrez (SAC), 6-4, 6-1

4. Magdalena Tokarska (FSU) def. Karina Jarlkaganova (SAC), 6-3, 6-2

5. Jaqueline Haskett (FSU) def. Cecilia Helland (SAC), 6-2, 6-2

6. Anastassia Lyssenko (SAC) vs. Bruna Paes (FSU), 6-3, 5-5, DNF