Hornet victory keeps team undefeated

Benn Hodapp

Sacramento State took a 5-2 victory over the Eagles of Eastern Washington Friday in a men’s tennis match that was moved due to the weather. The game was originally to be played at Rio Del Oro Racquet Club, but was moved to the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in Gold River.

In a slight change of pace the teams faced off in singles first before ending the day with doubles. Sac State took four of the first five points of the day to seal up the win early. Junaid Hossain defeated Kyle Schraeder 7-5, 6-3 at No. 1. At No. 2 Gabriel Loredo was beaten by Pannhara Mam 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). Warwick Foy handled Johnathon Davis at No. 3 6-2, 6-4. Thomas Morton took care of Patrick Millican 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 at the four spot. Ramon Perez defeated Art Karas at No.5 6-2, 6-1 and Hague Van Dillen was defeated by Kyle Cruzat 6-2, 6-3.

In doubles, with the match already sewn up for the Hornets with a 4-2 lead, it would have been easy for there to be a mental letdown. However, there was no letdown to be found as Sac State took two of the three matches to make the score final at 5-2. Hossain and Loredo beat Schraeder and Mam 8-3 at No. 1, Foy and Perez were taken out by Davis and Millican 8-4 at the two spot, and Paul Komorniczak and Van Dillen defeated Karas and Cruzat 8-7 (7-4) at the three.

There were several heated moments during the No. 1 match in doubles. Schraeder and Loredo exchanged words on many different occasions as both sides felt the other team was being disrespectful towards them.

“(Schraeder) was being very rude,” Loredo said. “I wasn’t going to let him disrespect me, my team or the people watching.”

After the match was over Loredo was hit with a point penalty for throwing his racquet after the conclusion of the doubles match.

“We let the small things get too big and it affected how we played our game,” assistant coach Jonathan Labella said after the match. “It was very childish on Loredo’s part.”

With the win the Hornets jumped to 4-0 on the season in conference play while their overall record improved to 8-5. The team plays Saturday against the University of the Pacific in Stockton at 1 p.m.