After finishing the month of March with a record of 10-1, the men?s tennis team knew of no other way to start April than with a 6-0 record.

The team traveled to Reno last weekend to compete against Nevada and Idaho, defeating both opponents and pushing its record to 18-2 on the season. The Hornets have now won six in a row and 16 of their past 17 matches.

During the Hornets? trip, the team played Nevada Friday and Idaho Saturday. The Hornets defeated Idaho, 5-2, and took down Nevada, 6-1.

“Today?s match (Saturday) was extremely close,” head coach Chris Evers said. “The score doesn?t indicate the story of the match.”

The Hornets were able to notch victories in the number one, three, five, and six singles positions, as well as complete a sweep in doubles play.

In the number one and three singles matches, junior Sherif Zaher and senior Chris Smith were able to gain easy victories. Zaher won 6-2, 6-0, while Smith won 6-3, 6-3. Zaher is 4-1 in his last five singles matches, while Smith is a perfect 5-0 in recent matches.

In other singles play, the matches were forced to three sets, but the Hornets prevailed. Sophomore Sylvain Iff won 7-5, 6-7, 7-6, to continue his hot streak and remain unbeaten in his last five matches. In the number six singles match, sophomore Nick Sheehan won 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

With the Big Sky Championships coming up next week, Evers believes that these victories have created a good momentum for his team.

“Saturday?s match was pretty intense. It was a good match to get us ready for next week,” he said.

Each member of the team has been getting the job done this year, and Evers sees a lot of positive aspects to all of his players.

“Sylvain, Joey (Gilbert) and Sherif are playing real well,” Evers said. “Fabio (Jesus) is playing better. Hopefully he will peak next week.”

Saturday?s contest against Nevada finished with Sac State winning, 6-1.The Hornets won five of six singles matches, only losing the number two match. The team won two of three doubles matches to gain the doubles point.

“We played good enough to win,” Evers said. “The conditions were not good. It was windy.”

Zaher, Smith, Gilbert and senior Kevin Vieira all won in straight sets. Iff needed three sets, but came away the victor 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Sac State will now prepare to host the Big Sky Championships this weekend. The matches will start Friday and continue through Sunday.

The Hornets were able to receive a first round bye because of their 3-0 record at the Big Sky Regional?s April 6 through 8 in Portland. At the Regional?s, they breezed through the opposition, defeating Portland State, 7-0, Northern Arizona, 5-2, and closed it out against Weber State, winning 4-1.

The Hornets will begin the tournament as the number one seed, and will play the winner of the Montana State vs. Weber State match.

Evers would like to see Montana State win so his team can play the team that forbid them of winning last year?s Big Sky Championships.

“I hope they (Montana State) win, so we can get some revenge on them from last year.”