When it comes to winning matches, the Sacramento State men’s and women’s tennis teams are at the top of the game. In a preseason coaches’ poll, both the men’s and women’s teams were picked to finish No. 1 in the Big Sky Conference heading into the 2009 season. The women’s team continues to be the standard of excellence in the Big Sky, winning seven consecutive conference championships while advancing to the NCAA tournament in each of the last seven seasons.

The women’s team returns six players from last season, including All-American junior Katrina Zheltova. An outstanding singles player, Zheltova is a two-time Big Sky MVP who went to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Singles Championship only a year ago.

The women’s team has picked up where it left off from the 2008 campaign, winning its home opener against No. 29 ranked Pepperdine University to start the season 1-0. After losing the first doubles match 8-1, the Hornets won the rest of their matches in dominant fashion, winning six single matches in straight sets as well as in two of three doubles matches. Sparked by the tandem of Clarisse Baca and Joyce Martinez-Gutierrez, the Hornets recovered from losing its first match in a 9-7 victory.

The superb play of Martinez-Gutierrez against Pepperdine helped the senior earn Big Sky Player of the Week honors for matches played from the beginning of the season to Jan. 25. In the singles matches, Katrina Zheltova showed why she is the No. 58 ranked singles player in the country, defeating Pepperdine’s Alexandria Walters in straight sets to record a 6-2, 6-4 win. With the win, the team has now won 11 of its last 14 matches dating back from last season.

The men’s team has also enjoyed its share of success, making it to the NCAA tournament in five of the last 10 years while also winning six Big Sky Conference championships in 11 years. In 2009, the team has the firepower to justify its No. 1 preseason ranking, coming off a season where the team finished with a 16-8 record overall.

The Hornets are returning three players who were first-team all Big Sky last season, including Big Sky MVP Anton Stryhas. Also returning are fellow Big Sky first-teamers Artur Klimenka and Kiryl Harbatsiuk. Stryhas and Harbatsiuk, who share the court as doubles partners, have the distinction of being the first team in school history to be nationally ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association in a preseason poll.

Last season, the team was undefeated in the Big Sky, posting an impressive 8-0 regular season record before losing in the conference tournament finals to Eastern Washington, 4-3. Hoping to build on last season’s success, the Hornets know they have a lot of work to do in order to be successful.

“Our goal is to win the Big Sky Championship,” said men’s assistant coach Kevin Kurtz. “We want to go as far as possible in the NCAA tournament.”

This season, the team has gotten off to a slow start, losing to No. 6-ranked USC, 0-7. The season opener against UC Riverside on Jan 23 was stopped due to rain with the Hornets losing 3-2. The team bounced back with a sweep of Loyola Marymount University, 7-0. On Jan. 27, the team suffered another defeat against No. 12-ranked Stanford, its fourth road match in five days. The loss drops the Hornets record to 1-2; however, the team is confident that it will improve.

“We have to become a team and work together. (The team) must also improve their returns and serves. We’re playing a lot of tough schools so we’re going to get a lot of experience playing teams that are the top ten to twenty in the nation. Once we do all those things, then we’ll see how far we can go,” Kurtz said.

The men’s team plays its next match on Friday against Oklahoma State. The team plays its first home game against Saint Mary’s College on March 8.

The women’s team plays its next match on Saturday on the road against Washington State, then it faces Big Sky opponent Eastern Washington on Feb. 28 in the first conference game of the season.