NO. 47 HORNETS DROP 4-3 NAILBITER AT WASHINGTON STATE

2/11/2007

PULLMAN, Wash. - The Washington State women's tennis team downed No. 47 Sacramento State, 4-3,   Saturday afternoon at the Hollingbery Fieldhouse.

The Cougars (8-1 overall, 0-0 Pac-10) defeated Sacramento State (3-2 overall, 1-0 Big Sky), 4-3, after capturing the doubles point and splitting the six singles matches with the Hornets. Sacramento State is now 2-2 against Pac-10 competition with wins at Washington and Oregon, but falling to Cal and Washington State.

In doubles action, Washington State jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Ashley Spicer and Amy Toth defeated the Hornets' Cecilia Helland and Luba Schifris, 8-6. Sacramento State shot back with Anastassia Lyssenko and Aileen Tsan who defeated Aleksandra Cekic and Aleksandra Stefanova, 8-3, tying doubles play at one.

The Cougars' Ekaterina Burduli and Marjolein van de Ven secured the doubles point by defeating Joyce Martinez Gutierrez and Katrina Zheltova, 8-6.
 
Trailing 1-0, the Hornets bounced back in singles play with wins in the No. 1 (Zheltova) and 4 (Schifris) slots to give Sacramento State a 2-1 lead. The lead would not last long as Toth defeated Lyssenko in straight-sets, 6-2, 7-5. Washington State would eventually take the lead after van de Ven eased past Tsan, 6-0, 6-3.

The Hornets would not go away, they  came back by capturing a win in the No. 6 slot with Helland defeating Stefanova, 6-4, 6-0.

In the final match, Cekic secured the Cougars' victory with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory against Martinez Gutierrez. Cekic dropped the first set 6-1, but forced a final third set after claiming the second set 6-1. In the final set, Cekic scored a 6-1 win securing the Washington State victory.

Washington State 4 def. Sacramento State 3
February 10, 2007
Hollingbery Fieldhouse
Pullman, Wash.

Doubles:
1.  Burduli/van de Ven (WSU) def. Gutierrez/Zheltova (Sac State), 8-6
2.  Spicer/Toth (WSU) def. Helland/Schifris (Sac State), 8-6
3.  Lyssenko/Tsan (Sac State) def. Cekic/Stefanova (WSU), 8-3
Order of finish (2,3,1)

Singles:
1.  Katrina Zheltova (Sac State) def. Ekaterina Burduli (WSU), 6-1, 6-3
2.  Amy Toth (WSU) def. Anastassia Lyssenko (Sac State), 6-2, 7-5
3.  Marjolein van de Ven (WSU) def. Aileen Tsan (Sac State), 6-0, 6-3
4.  Luba Schifris (Sac State) def. Bianca Selaru (WSU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-0
5.  Aleksandra Cekic (WSU) def. Joyce Martinez Gutierrez (Sac State), 1-6, 6-1, 6-1
6.  Cecilia Helland (Sac State) def. Aleksandra Stefanova (WSU), 6-4, 6-0
Order of finish (1,4,2,3,6,5)