A valiant effort by the Hornets fell short as Eastern Washington defeated them 4-3 in the Big Sky Championship game Sunday at Gold River Racquet Club in Sacramento.

Before the last set, freshman Artur Klimenka caught his breath while the trainer squeezed a moist, icy cold towel over him as he sat on the bench.

Klimenka narrowly lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the final match that wound down a day of exciting tennis in the budding summer sun.

“I think in his case he really fought hard, but the guy he played was more experienced than he is,” Director of Tennis at Sacramento State Bill Campbell said. “He really worked hard out there so he’ll bounce back and be a totally different player next year with all this experience.”

The Hornets defeated Eastern Washington 4-3 in their regular season match, where Klimenka defeated his same opponent from the tournament, Nico Riego de Dios, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5.

“I thought the guys did a great job,” Campbell said. “If you stop and reflect on it, we had only one guy who played last year.”

The Sacramento State men’s tennis team had a roster makeover this season, with only sophomore Anton Stryhas returning.

“Five guys were either freshmen or new to D-I tennis except Holden (Ching),” Campbell said.

Nonetheless, it posted a perfect 8-0 record in the Big Sky Conference and made it to the finals in the Big Sky tournament, where they nearly triumphed.

“I don’t know what to say – just maybe had a bad day,” freshman Kiryl Harbatsiuk said.

Harbatsiuk won both of his singles matches in the tournament but lost in the No. 1 doubles match with Stryhas against Eastern Washington.

“Me and Kiryl did well in singles matches but it’s too bad we lost the doubles point. When we lost I think it was the breaking moment,” Stryhas said.

The Hornets advanced to the NCAA tournament last year after winning the Big Sky Conference Championship.

Campbell was looking forward to watching Stryhas compete at the national tournament after his 22-1 record season.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the best record in men’s tennis history for the program,” Campbell said.

Sac State needs to continue to play highly ranked schools to get consideration for a ranking themselves as well as for individual players.

“It’s kind of disappointing because we wanted to go as a team and play in the NCAA tournament,” Stryhas said.

The Hornets had a bye Friday as they were the No. 1 seed and faced Montana on Saturday, who they defeated 4-3.

Junior Sven-David Rueff is a co-captain with Stryhas and they showed their leadership by example, winning both of their singles matches in the tournament.

Rueff had a heroic win Saturday against Montana when he defeated David Cysneiros 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 with the match tied at 3-3.

“It was a close match that could have gone either way. I just played better at the end and won,” Rueff said.

Rueff was the only Hornet not part of a loss in the tournament, winning both his singles matches and seeing his two doubles matches going unfinished.

“The match against Montana was good. Sven showed himself to be a great fighter and won the deciding point,” Stryhas said.

Rueff and Klimenka were tied 6-6 against Montana in the No. 2 doubles match; they were leading 6-5 against Eastern Washington.

“Sven is a very good competitor on the court,” Campbell said.

Cameron Ross can be reached at [email protected]