The Sacramento State women’s tennis team has been quietly handling its business this season, improving to an 18-4 record with three-straight road wins this past weekend.

Yet “handling” doesn’t quite describe what the Hornets have done to their Big Sky conference foes this year.

Dismantling maybe.

In fact, when the team plays its final regular season matches against Big Sky rivals Northern Arizona and Montana on Saturday at home, the Hornets will be looking to improve on a school-record 21-conference match-winning streak that spans most of four full seasons of Big Sky dominance.

Two weeks later, the No. 32-ranked Hornets will be off to Flagstaff, Ariz., and the Big Sky Tournament, hosted by Northern Arizona. They will be gunning for their fourth-straight Big Sky Conference championship.

The general consensus is that these women are primed for another championship run. “We are taking everyone seriously, but we are on top and feeling good,” said senior Roberta Fessenko, who along with fellow senior Cristina Rivieccio will be honored before the Montana match, their final home appearances.

“I think we should win the Big Sky Conference tournament, and then make it to the NCAA tournament,” she said.-” I don’t know how far we can go there, but I am confident we are a good team … we are playing so well right now.

“I am a senior, and I’m ready for us to take it all right now. That would be a great way to end my college career,” Fessenko said.

Hornet coach Bill Campbell has been very happy with his team’s efforts, and understandably so. Beyond this season’s flawless 4-0 record against Big Sky schools, his Hornets have yet to drop even one match point to their conference opponents.

“We haven’t lost to a Big Sky opponent in more than three years,” Campbell said. “We hope to make this our fourth.- We’re looking forward to the conference tourney, and with the talent we have, we should be able to win it.”

With a big double-header win this coming weekend, the Hornets would make their dreams of a fourth-straight flawless Big Sky season come true. But the most serious opponent Campbell may face is the injury bug, something that the nature of the game and a grueling road schedule has made commonplace this year.

Cecilia Helland, ranked No. 72 in the nation and one of the Hornets’ top players with a 20-2 singles record, was forced to give up her match against Loyola Marymount on Sunday, retiring due to injury.

“Cecilia has shin splints in both legs, she just got them (Saturday) … she had to retire,” Campbell said.

No. 75-ranked sophomore Anna Erikson has been battling with a persistent hip flexor injury for most of the year, and other smaller nagging injuries continue to pester the players.

“We have three matches next weekend, and we’ll take turns resting them. The most nagging injury will have priority,” Campbell said, “They’re nothing major, just little nagging injuries. … We’ve got 2 to 21?2 weeks before (the tournament), and I’ve given them three days this week to rest.”

Should the Hornets put the finishing touches on another perfect Big Sky season and win the tournament, they would be off to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-consecutive year.

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Josh Terrell can be reached at [email protected]