“This is our best chance to win a title,” Sacramento State men’s tennis player Junaid Hossain said before last weekend’s tournament. The chance to beat Montana State and re-take the title that the team coveted so much was simply not meant to be.

The team was unable to exact a bit of revenge on Montana State. In fact, they did not even get the chance.

The second seeded Hornets played the third seeded Montana on Friday in semifinal action.

The Hornets were the favorite due to the regular season 6-1 victory over Montana as well as the fact that Sac State was picked to meet Montana State by the coaches in the preseason.

Sac State was able to take the doubles point, which going in was high up on the list of things to do for the Hornets. Before the tournament, both Hossain and Loredo spoke of the importance of the doubles point in tournament play. The tandem pushed their impressive doubles record to a final total of 19-3 with a win in the Montana match.

Ramon Perez and Warwick Foy also won their match to take the doubles point for the Hornets. It was singles that spelled the Hornets doom. They dropped four of the five completed singles matches to lose the match by a final of 4-2. The problem was clear to the players and coaches.

“We really had problems closing out matches,” assistant coach Jonathan Labella said. “We were up early in a lot of matches and just couldn’t close them.” Sophomore Hague Van Dillen agreed. “Almost everybody was up in their singles matches, but (Montana) just came up with some big shots.”

This was a season that was supposed to be filled with pay back for the Hornets, who felt they were the best team last year. The team must now deal with an empty feeling of potential left unfulfilled. “We are very disappointed,” Labella said. “We were really looking forward to a rematch against Montana State.” Instead of getting that chance, Montana State won the title for the third straight year on Saturday against Montana.

Friday marked the final collegiate matches for seniors Hossain, Thomas Morton and Paul Komorniczak. The team retains a strong group for next season headed by next year seniors Loredo and Foy. The team also has a highly touted recruiting class, ranked 18th in the country by the Tennis Recruiting Network, headed in next year to try and get the title back to Sacramento.

Benn Hodapp can be reached at [email protected]