Saturday, April 21, 2012

Sac State women seek 11th straight Big Sky title

   The last time the Sacramento State women's tennis team lost a Big Sky Conference match, Barack Obama was an obscure state senator, and Twitter was something birds did.
   Since 2002, the Hornets have won 90 consecutive conference matches and 10 straight Big Sky Tournament titles. They'll try to extend those streaks beginning today at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   In today's Big Sky semifinals at 10 a.m., top-seeded Sac State (15-9, 8-0) will face No. 4 Northern Colorado (9-8, 5-3), and No. 2 Northern Arizona (10-12, 7-1) will play No. 3 Montana (13-7, 6-2). The winners will meet Sunday at 10 a.m. for the title.
   Playing singles for the 52nd-ranked Hornets will be No. 1 Tatsiana Kapshai, a senior from Belarus; No. 2 Rebeca Delgado, a junior from Mexico; No. 3 Clarisse Baca, a senior from Mexico; No. 4 Sophie Lohscheidt, a sophomore from Germany; No. 5 Katharina Knoebl, a sophomore from Austria; and No. 6 Maria Meliuk, a senior from Belarus.  
   The Sac State men (9-12, 7-1) seek their 10th Big Sky Tournament title in 15 years. Seeded second, the Hornets will take on No. 3 Eastern Washington (12-8, 6-2) today at 2 p.m. in one semifinal. No. 1 Montana (15-4, 8-0) will go against No. 4 Weber State (9-12, 5-3) in the other, also at 2 p.m. The winners will vie for the championship on Sunday at 2 p.m.
   Sac State's singles lineup consists of No. 1 Aliaksandr Malko, a junior from Belarus; No.2 Marek Marksoo, a freshman from Estonia; No. 3 Javier Millan, a senior from Mexico; No. 4 Sean Kolar, a freshman from Del Oro High School in Loomis; No. 5 Roy Brandys, a freshman from Poland; and No. 6 Tom Miller, a freshman from England.
   Admission to the Big Sky Tournament is free.
   ATP World Tour in Monte Carlo, Monaco -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, former Stanford All-Americans originally from Camarillo in the Los Angeles area, crushed No. 5 Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-0 in 51 minutes on clay in the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
   The Bryans, who won the Monte Carlo title last year and in 2007, avenged losses to Paes and Stepanek in this year's Australian Open final and Sony Ericsson semifinals. The Australian Open loss ended the Bryans' streak of three titles in the year's first Grand Slam tournament.
   Men's Challenger in Sarasota, Fla. -- Sixth-seeded Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas, routed unseeded Michael Yani of Durham, N.C., 6-3, 6-1 on clay in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Sarasota Open.
   Querrey, 6-foot-6, will play 5-foot-8 Michael Russell of Houston in today's semifinals. The 33-year-old Russell, who reached the semifinals of last week's ATP World Tour event on clay in Houston as a qualifier, outplayed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
   Women's Challenger in Dothan, Ala. -- Unseeded Maria Sanchez of Modesto and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area lost to top-seeded Sharon Fichman and Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 tiebreak in the semifinals of the $50,000 Dothan Pro Classic.
   Stanford men beat Cal -- The 12th-ranked Stanford men (16-7, 5-2 Pacific-12 Conference) won 5-2 against Cal (11-10, 4-3) as Bears seniors Nick Andrews and Carlos Cueto played the last regular-season home match of their collegiate careers.
  Andrews, from the Sacramento suburb of Folsom, lost to Bradley Klahn, the 2010 NCAA singles champion, 6-3, 6-4. Cueto, a Spaniard, fell to Matt Kandath 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
   WEEKEND TV SCHEDULE
   Today
(All times PDT)
   Monte Carlo semifinals, Tennis Channel, 4-9 a.m. (live), 5 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (taped).
   Fed Cup, World Group playoffs, United States at Ukraine, Tennis Channel, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (taped).
   Fed Cup, World Group semifinals, Italy at Czech Republic, Tennis Channel, 1-5 p.m. (taped).
   Sunday
   Monte Carlo final, Tennis Channel, 4:30-7 a.m. (live), 5-10 p.m. (taped).
   Fed Cup, World Group playoffs, United States at Ukraine, Tennis Channel, 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (taped).
   Fed Cup, World Group semifinals, Italy at Czech Republic, Tennis Channel, 1:30-3:30 p.m. (taped).
   CALENDAR
   Today
   Big Sky Conference Tournament, Gold River Racquet Club, 2201 Gold Rush Drive, Gold River, Calif. (Sacramento area), women's semifinals (No. 1 Sacramento State vs. No. 4 Northern Colorado, No. 2 Northern Arizona vs. No. 3 Montana) at 10 a.m., men's semifinals (No. 1 Montana vs. No. 4 Weber State, No. 2 Sac State vs. No. 3 Eastern Washington) at 2 p.m.
   Sierra College Women's Tennis Fundraiser, Ben Combs' clay court, 8582 Westin Lane, Orangevale (Sacramento area), blue group at 10 a.m., red group at 11:30 a.m., playoffs at 1 p.m., doubles exhibition match (players to be announced) at 1:30 p.m.
   Sunday
   Big Sky Conference Tournament, Gold River Racquet Club, 2201 Gold Rush Drive, Gold River, Calif.  (Sacramento area), women's final at 10 a.m., men's final at 2 p.m.  
Friday-April 30
   USTA National Men's, Women's and Mixed 30's Indoor Championships, Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center, 11205 Pyrites Way, Gold River, Calif. (Sacramento area).

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