In the first conference match of the year for the Hornets, Sacramento State’s men’s tennis team was able to secure a win that came down to the final point against Weber State.

This win was particularly impressive because the Hornets were without Niranjan Ram and Marek Marksoo, two of the key players on the team, because of injury. Marksoo has missed the past few matches and Ram suffered his injury today during the doubles set.

“This was a big match with Niranjan and Marek out,” said coach Kevin Kurtz. “Winning doubles was huge today as we lost to Weber last year.”

The Hornets took the doubles point, winning two of their three matches. Tom Miller and Roy Brandys won their set 7-6, and Kasparas Zemaitelis and Christopher Clayton won their set 6-4. Sean Kolar and Ram lost their set 4-6.

Clayton was a standout performer for the Hornets on Friday in his first home conference match of his collegiate career. With Ram out due to injury, Clayton stepped into the No. 6 singles spot and won his match in three sets, 6-5, 1-6, 6-4. Despite nearly cramping up in the third set, he fought back from a 2-4 deficit to win 6-4.

“My legs felt so heavy in the third set, but all the guys came over and got me fired up,” Clayton said. “I just stuck to my game plan and tried to hit a few more good shots.”

The other standout match of the day came from the No. 1 singles match between Kolar and Jakub Gewert. Kolar was down 1-5 in the second set but came back to win 7-6 in a tiebreaker while securing the overall win for the Hornets in the process. Kolar and Gewert played each point hard.

“All I did was just try to stay calm after every point and not cheer when I scored, and he started to get mad,” Kolar said. “Always like to play people who play games with me.”

Brandys finished his day quick as the No. 2 singles player for the Hornets and won 6-1, 6-3. Zemaitelis, who was moved into the No. 3 spot, was not able to take a set and lost 5-7, 5-7.

Ayman Abdulwahab was moved into the No. 4 spot Friday and lost his match 2-6, 4-6. Miller won his first set but dropped the next two and fell 6-4, 4-6, 4-6.

Sac State continues its season Feb. 28 at Santa Clara University.