The Sacramento State women’s tennis team has won the Big Sky Conference title each of the last 10 years and it hopes to continue the streak in the spring.

The Hornets were ranked No. 29 in the nation last season and said their goal is to get in the top 20 this year. Sac State has also not suffered a single defeat in conference matches the last 10 years.

The players said they thought about the team not getting enough recognition for their success in recent years and the problem could be an issue of home court location.

“We definitely deserve more and (we) also have a really high team GPA overall. I think that deserves some more attention,” said sophomore Chyna Brown. “Also, no one knows our accomplishments because we don’t practice on the campus courts.”

The team said the main reason they elected to play at the Rio Del Oro Racquet Club, which is about one mile from campus, is because the courts at Sac State are too dirty and it is dangerous to play on such a surface. Just recently, the school has been working on cleaning and repainting the courts on campus.

“We are trying to play at least one or two matches at school next semester,” said German-born sophomore Sophie Lohscheidt.

Head coach Dima Hrynashka said they have about the right amount of support.

“We have attention. We are a small team compared to football and basketball, but we have enough,” Hrynashka said. “But I hope that we should be able to (have) a successful season in 2011-2012 and will be excited to keep the streak going.”

Brown said the reason they have been successful for so long is because they are a cohesive unit and play well together.

“I think it is a collective effort and focus and we get along so well as a whole team,” Brown said.

Junior Jessica Eung said it is also because many of the girls are foreign, but play well together.

“It is because all the girls come from different countries, they all have the same goals,” Eung said. “We are all here for the same reason.”

Hrynashka said the recruitment of international players can relate to their past success and it helps players adapt to different environments.

“We try to recruit (internationally) all the time, there are different styles of tennis and it is good for the girls to learn different cultures,” Hrynashka said.

Not only is the team successful on the court, but it also achieves similar success inside the classroom. The Hornets received the 2011 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team honors after getting better than a 3.2 cumulative grade point average during the 2010-11 academic year.

They also had three players receive ITA Scholar-Athlete honors for the same school year. The players were Maria Meliuk, Katherina Knoebl and  Lohscheidt.

As far as their work ethic during practice goes, Brown said it is all about being able to concentrate.

“Just being prepared and on time. If one of us is late then the whole team has to run laps,” Brown said. “Focusing during practice is really important.”

When speaking about their training and whether the team did any type of specific drills, Hrynashka said all teams have something different, but they work specifically on the volley aspect of the game and doubles matches. Also, they have been able to build an impressive doubles team featuring junior Rebeca Delgado and senior Tatsiana Kapshai.

“They were ranked in the top 16; they beat UCLA, San Diego State and UNLV,” Hrynashka said.

The other doubles team consisting of Meliuk and Clarisse Baca were also a fierce duo during the 2010 season. They finished with a 6-0 record last season in doubles conference matches

The Hornets next tennis invitational is Friday through Monday at the ITA Northwest Regionals in Stanford.

Daniel Morales can be reached at [email protected].