SHORT-HANDED WOMEN’S TENNIS FALLS AT SAN DIEGO STATE
3/1/2009
SAN DIEGO - With four Sacramento State players either ailing because of injury or illness, the Hornets fell at San Diego State, 5-2, in a non-conference women’s tennis match Sunday afternoon at the Aztec Tennis Center.
Two-time Big Sky Conference MVP and reigning All-American Katrina Zheltova missed her third straight match because of injury, freshman Maria Meliuk had to retire in the third set of her match after missing the previous two matches with illness, senior Joyce Martinez Gutierrez could not play singles because of injury, and senior Luba Schifris was forced to play three sets today after retiring early in yesterday’s match because of injury.
Those are four of the Hornets’ top six singles players, and the injury-plagued team has suffered in the win-loss column this week. Sacramento State was playing its third match in as many days, and lost all three in large part to the ailments. The Hornets, who had been injury free until this week, were 7-0 through last weekend. Since the injury bug hit, the team (7-3) has dropped three straight and will likely see its national ranking drop from its current mark of No. 35.
With the victory, San Diego State improved to 7-3.
The Aztecs won two of the three doubles matches to pick up the doubles point and take an early 1-0 lead. Hornet freshman Clarisse Baca then won her singles match in decisive fashion (6-2, 6-2 at No. 4) to tie the match at 1-1. San Diego State won the next two matches to take a 3-1 lead as junior Aileen Tsan (6-2, 6-3 at No. 1) and sophomore Milica Zivanovic (6-1, 6-4 at No. 6) both dropped their singles matches.
Sophomore Melissa Valenzuela drew the Hornets within, 3-2, with her 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory in the No. 5 slot. However, the match came to an end when Schifris fell in three sets at No. 2 by the score of 6-0, 1-6, 7-6 (5). Meliuk was forced to retire with the score tied at 5-5 in the third set. The loss for Meliuk was her first singles defeat of the season as the freshman had been 7-0.
Sacramento State plays twice more next week as the team travels to third-ranked Cal on Friday, March 6 (1:30 p.m.) and hosts Big Sky Conference rival Montana State on Sunday, March 8 (9 a.m.)
Tennis Match Results
Sacramento State vs San Diego State
Mar 1, 2009 at San Diego, Calif.
(Aztec Tennis Center)
SAN DIEGO - With four Sacramento State players either ailing because of injury or illness, the Hornets fell at San Diego State, 5-2, in a non-conference women’s tennis match Sunday afternoon at the Aztec Tennis Center.
