Sacramento State women's tennis fell to the No. 19 ranked Washington Huskies 4-3 on Saturday.
The No. 49 ranked Hornets started slow out of the box losing all three doubles matches, facing a 1-0 deficit early. Joyce Ardies and Denise Dy beat Katrina Zheltova and Clarisse Baca 8-4, while the pair of Venise Chan and Samantha Smith defeated Rebeca Delgado and Tatsiana Kapshai 8-4.??However, the pair of Maria Meliuk and Aileen Tsan lost a close battle to the Huskies' Aleksandra Malovic and Lina Xu 8-7, (9-7), giving Washington all three doubles wins.?
Zheltova gave the Hornets their first point when she beat No. 4 ranked Dy winning 6-1, 6-3. Zheltova was ranked as the No. 49 player in the nation in singles going into the match. Meliuk got beat by Huskies' No. 14 ranked Chan in two sets 6-2, 6-3.?
Kapshai beat Xu 6-1, 6-3 as the No. 3 singles then Tsan quickly beat Malovic 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 to go up in the match 3-2.
The heartbreak came in the last two matches. Smith defeated Baca 7-5, 6-4, to leave the deciding point up to the last match. Ardies came back from behind to beat Sac State's Delgado 7-5, 7-5, and leave the Hornets on the losing end of a close match.
The Hornets will be playing at Washington State next Feb. 21 at 10 a.m.
Marshall Hampson can be reached at [email protected]
