Neither the men’s nor the women’s tennis teams have a senior player on its roster, but the tennis court experience and maturity don’t normally come from being a fourth-year student.

Most of the tennis players at Sacramento State are foreign players and it requires maturity for a young adult to move to a country away from his or her family.

“You’ve got to remember, in tennis you have to take the history of these kids and a lot of them have been playing competitive tennis since they were 10 years old. Some of them have played over 30 tournaments a year and they know what they’re doing,” Director of Tennis Bill Campbell said.

Recruiting is a difficult process because there is always a limited number of roster spots and scholarships available.

Injuries also occur and other aspects of life can impede on a collegian’s tennis career.

In some cases, Campbell redshirts players for their personal sake and for the sake of the team. When a player is classified as a redshrit he or she will not play during the current season

“Ideally, I’d like to (use) two (freshmen), two (sophomores), two (juniors) and two (seniors) but it never happens that way,” Campbell said.

Currently, the women’s team has one freshman, two sophomores, four juniors and one redshirt. The men’s team has three freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and two redshirts.

Co-captains of the women’s team are juniors Joyce Martinez Gutierrez and Luba Schifris.

They are both in their second terms as captains and Campbell thinks they’ve exhibited great leadership qualities since they arrived at Sac State.

“Luba and Joyce are captains their second year now and even their freshman years you saw them developing as leaders,” Campbell said.

The men’s team is even younger overall than the women’s team and the co-captains are sophomore Anton Stryhas and junior Sven-David Rueff.

Choosing captains requires an observation of which players are mostly looked up to for leadership.

“The captains are the ones the teams look up to for leadership and you notice that pretty quick,” Campbell said.

Because nearly every player has international tournament experience they all qualify as “seasoned” since they’ve tested the waters of competition all over the world.

“I think, in general, anytime you have senior they are a little bit better because they’re more mature but it depends so much on the individual,” Campbell said.

Campbell says it is definitely an advantage to have seniors on the team, but that it is not vital for success.

Freshman Kiryl Harbatsiuk is the men’s No. 1 player and is nationally ranked, so the best players aren’t always seniors.

“Kiryl is one of the best players in the country and can beat anyone on any given day, but he’s a very mature freshman,” Campbell said. “When he’s a senior he’s going to be nearly unbeatable.”

The teams’ coaches are well respected by the players and look past age differences for leadership.

“We all like our head coach,” junior Karina Jarlkaganova said.

Stryhas believes in leading by example. His nearly perfect singles record of 12-1 shows that is clearly his philosophy.

“I just try to go out and win every match,” Stryhas said.

Campbell points out other countries’ citizens graduate high school at different ages.

In the past, the women’s team has had players from Sweden and Russia. Some of them may play at a university or club overseas before coming to the United States to play at the collegiate level.

“When recruiting foreign players, things are different because when they graduate high school in Sweden they’re at least 19, maybe 20. In Russia, they’re maybe 16 or 17. We’ve had girls from Sweden and sometimes the year they get here they’re turning 21 so maturity can be a difference,” Campbell said.

Maturity is not likely to be an issue if someone comes from Sweden and is turning 21 during the season as a freshman.

The last time the lady Hornets were without a senior was long enough ago that Campbell has trouble remembering.

“I think when we were 28th in the nation we didn’t have a senior ? maybe one but I think I had her redshirted the year before,” Campbell said.

Next year the Hornets will have four seniors as long as none of the current juniors redshirt.

Two of the seniors-to-be are co-captains Martinez and Schifris, which will make for a strong foundation for the team.

The men’s team will have one senior and close to Campbell’s ideal make-up of approximately two players in each other year.

Cameron Ross can be reached at [email protected]