The Sacramento State tennis teams each won the 2010 Big Sky Conference tennis championships Sunday at the Gold River Racquet Club under clear skies and breezy conditions.

The Hornets defeated the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona University &- both by a score of 4-0. The teams swept all four singles points and each doubles point.

The racquet club hosted the semifinals on Saturday, with the women and defeating Montana State University 4-0 and the men beat the University of Montana 4-0.

The women, who have been playing without senior standout Katrina Zheltova since February due to a sports hernia, got contributions from sophomore Clarisse Baca, sophomore Maria Meliuk and freshman Rebeca Delgado, who had the championship-clinching victory.

The win was the women’s ninth consecutive Big Sky championship and 72nd conference win in a row.

Baca said she was pleased with her and her team’s performance during the championships.

“The weather was kind of hot, but everybody came through pretty well,” Baca said. “We had a couple of tough matches but I think at the end of the day, we came out pretty good, actually.”

Baca won her semifinal match 6-0, 6-1 on Saturday before winning her championship match 6-2, 6-2 over the Lumberjacks’ Malia Wahniepio.

Delgado, who defeated the Bobcats’ Laura Villegas 6-0, 6-1, said she did not have any outside distractions when facing Montana State this time around.

“I was excited because the last time our team played against Montana State I wasn’t able to go on the trip. I had to take a test,” Delgado said. “So I was really excited. I knew that I was going to be focused and ready to play them.”

Head coach Dima Hrynashka said he was impressed with Northern Arizona’s performance at the championship.

“They were ready to compete today,” Hrynashka said. “They were so tough. Some matches were very close.”Tennis Director Bill Campbell agreed with the coach’s remark.

“They were competitive all the way through,” Campbell said. “It was not easy. Both teams had to play well.”

Hrynashka said the team played well without Zheltova.

“It feels like (all) the girls can play successful,” he said. “Everybody understands it’s a little bit tough, but everybody started to prepare for (the) matches and they can handle (it).”

Baca said while the conference title is nice, the team’s main goal still lies ahead.

“Everybody wants to be the winner,” Baca said. “But I think our goal is to win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. We just have to come strong and we need to prepare. We have two weeks before that and these little things that we can improve &- we need to work on those.”

Baca said more private lessons with the coach and extra workout time are going to be big factors in the team’s preparation for the tournament.

Junior Kiryl Harbatsiuk, sophomore Jason Smith and junior Marko Starcevic won in the semifinals on Saturday to advance the Hornets to the finals on Sunday.

Starcevic said he was ready for his match in doubles in the men’s afternoon installment of the semifinals.

“I felt very prepared,” he said. “We are all trying to be serious about this because it is the most important event of the year.”

On Sunday, the men were led by senior Anton Stryhas, Smith and Starcevic &- each of whom won their matches.

Harbatsiuk made a great comeback against Northern Arizona’s Andrew Reiff, winning the first set 7-5 when Harbatsiuk was within one game and one point of losing his first set in 25 outings. Since the team reached four points before the Harbatsiuk-Reiff match ended, it was halted.

Athletic Director Terry Wanless said the school values conference championships from all its sports, as they are never sure things.

“We never take it for granted,” Wanless said. “It’s always a special thrill because the players change even though the tradition continues. That’s one thing that we’re most proud of is to be able to sustain the quality of play that we see every year.”

The team finished the season with a 15-11 record overall and 7-1 in conference play.

Wanless said the continued dominance within conference by both teams is a testament to the coaches and recruiting.

“It obviously speaks highly of our coaches because kids don’t just come in and automatically win,” he said. “You gotta have good coaching staff, but you also gotta have good players.”

The teams earned the Big Sky’s automatic berth into the first round NCAA Tournament, May 14-16. The Hornets’ opponents will be determined Tuesday.

Check statehornet.com to see which teams the men’s and women’s teams drew in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Matt Harrington contributed to this story.

Dustin Nosler can be reached at [email protected]