For only the fourth time this season the men’s tennis team played a home game at its true home, that is, on the tennis courts at Sacramento State, but the home court advantage wasn’t much as only a sparse crowd of students and faculty came out to watch the match against fellow Big Sky opponent Northern Arizona.

With more cheers coming from Northern Arizona’s women’s tennis team in the crowd, the Matt Jones-less Hornets dropped their fourth match in a row and the seventh match this season decided by a score of 4-3.

NAU doled out the heartbreaking win over the Hornets only after being swept in the doubles matches.

Juniad Hossein and Peter Farkas had excellent chemistry while they beat Thibault Schram and Henrik Lilja, 8-4.

“It was good, it was the second time we played together,” Hossein said. “Today it was sort of doubtful that I was going to play because last Friday in practice I rolled my ankle.”

After the doubles match was over Hossein was seen laying on the grass near the tennis courts icing his injured ankle.

Doubles partners Ramon Perez and Warwick Foy continued their winning season by defeating NAU’s Jeremy Coll and Jamie Maxwell 8-5 while Sac State’s Joakim Rydberg and Thomas Morton stomped out their competition of Jonas Jegers and Brian Grooms by a score of 8-3.

Both Rydberg and Perez said that the team isn’t used to playing on the tennis courts at Sac State because they are more slippery and because the team usually plays its home games at Rio Del Oro Racquet Club. Slippery courts and an unusual environment might have contributed to the Hornets’ four losses in singles play which prevented them from getting the win over NAU. Only Perez and Morton won their singles matches.

A win against NAU would have clinched the second seed in the Big Sky Conference tournament and given the Hornets a first-round bye, instead that privilege goes to NAU. The Hornets’ next home game will be at their home away from home, Rio Del Oro, on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Montana State.

The Hornets travel to Santa Clara today to take on the Broncos at 2:30 p.m.