The Sacramento State men’s tennis team dropped two close matches in Tulsa, Okla., this weekend, both by a 4-3 margin.

On Friday, the University of Tulsa defeated the Hornets 4-3.

The Hornets fell behind 3-0 in the beginning after falling behind in two matches of singles play.

Holden Ching was defeated 6-2, 6-4 and Tim Latin lost 6-4, 6-1.

The Hornets were able to gain two victories after Marko Starcevic earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory against his opponent.

Kiryl Harbatsiuk upset the Golden Hurricanes after defeating Ashley Watling, who came into the match ranked 21st in the nation, 6-3, 6-3.

All hopes of a comeback were put on Anton Stryhas, as the Hornets came into the No. 1 singles match leading 3-2.

However, Stryhas was defeated by Tulsa’s Philip Stephens, 6-3, 7-5.

Jason Smith finished out the night with a straight set win over Alastair Barnes during the No. 3 match.

Smith won the first set 6-3 and went on to win the second set with a 11-9 decision at the tie-breaker.

The Hornets then faced No. 30 Oklahoma State University on Saturday.Oklahoma State came back from a 3-0 deficit by winning four-consecutive singles matches, defeating the Hornets 4-3.

The loss was the second-straight year Oklahoma State defeated the Hornets by a 4-3 score.

The Hornets started off the match with wins from the doubles sets.Smith and Ching came out winners, both defeating ranked opponents.Smith went on to give the Hornets a 2-0 lead as he defeated the Cowboys’ Ilija Martinoski by a score of 6-0,6-1.

Harbatsiuk defeated his opponent, Anton Bobytskyi, who is ranked 44th in the country, 6-2, 6-0, bringing the match score to 3-0.

The Cowboys’ comeback started as Eric West gained two quick victories, 6-1, 6-2.

Starcevic was defeated by Aleksey Bessonov, to tie the score at 3-3.

The final match of the day was 15th-ranked Oleksandr Nedovyesov against Stryhas, the 2008 Big Sky Conference MVP.

Stryhas would fall short to his opponent in the first set, 6-3.

He would have had to win the second set in order to stay alive in the match and force a third set.

Stryhas served the ball with a 15-0 lead, Nedovyesov hit the ball that appeared to have gone out of bounds on the video.

The chair umpire scored the game at 15-15, upsetting Stryhas.

Stryhas went on to gain one more point, but to lose the match.

With the losses, the Hornets fell to 3-4 overall on the young season.

The Hornets do not play again until Feb. 27, which will be a doubleheader against both Montana State University and Utah State University.

Jules Ramzy can be reached at [email protected]