Sac State sweeps Big Sky crowns

The Sacramento State women's tennis team won its 11th straight Big Sky
Conference Tournament title Sunday. Kneeling (from left) are head coach
Dima Hrynashka and assistant coach Gergana Avramova-Hunt. Standing
(from left) are Chyna Brown, Jessica Eung, Andrea Gomez Carus, Katharina
Knoebl, Maria Meliuk, Sophie Lohscheidt, Clarisse Baca, Rebeca Delgado
and Tatsiana Kapshai.

   To no one's surprise, the Sacramento State men and women won Big Sky Conference championships Sunday at the Gold River Racquet Club.
   The only surprise was the ease of the men's victory.
   Both teams rolled to 4-0 victories over Montana to earn automatic berths in next month's NCAA Tournament. The top-seeded Sac State women won their 11th straight Big Sky Tournament title and the second-seeded men their fourth. The women also extended their conference win streak to 92 matches.

Sacramento State junior Aliaksandr Malko beat
Montana's Carl Kuschke 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 singles
in the Big Sky Conference Tournament final.

   The Hornets men avenged a 4-3 loss at Montana during the regular-season that snapped their conference win streak at 24 matches.
   Of Sunday's combined six singles matches and two doubles sets, only men's No. 2 doubles was competitive. Sac State freshmen Sean Kolor of Del Oro High School in Loomis and Tom Miller defeated Michael Facey of Cameron Park and Ethan Vaughn 8-6.
   The Sac State men (11-12) received singles victories from No. 1 Aliaksandr Malko, No. 3 Javier Millan and No. 6 Miller against top-seeded Montana (16-5). Cruising to singles wins for the Hornets women (17-9) against the third-seeded Grizzlies (14-8) were No. 1 Tatsiana Kapshai, No. 3 Clarisse Baca and No. 5 Maria Meliuk.  
    Montana's Heather Davidson, from Rocklin, lost at No. 1 singles and doubles.
   Stanford women top Cal -- Stanford's Nicole Gibbs beat reigning NCAA champion Jana Juricova as the No. 5 Cardinal women beat No. 10 Cal 4-3 Saturday at Stanford.
   The fourth-ranked Gibbs, an NCAA semifinalist as a freshman last year, downed the sixth-ranked Juricova, a senior, 7-6 (2), 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
   Stanford (17-1, 8-1 Pacific-12 Conference) will end its regular-season Wednesday in Ojai, where the Pac-12 Championships begin the next day, against Washington State in the makeup of a rained-out match. With a victory, the Cardinal can tie USC for the conference title. Cal (17-6, 8-2) tied UCLA for third place.
   ATP World Tour in Monte Carlo, Monaco -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, ex-Stanford All-Americans, earned their second straight Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters trophy and third overall with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on clay over second-seeded Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor.
    It was the Bryan twins' 20th career title in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, the highest level outside of the Grand Slams.
   Meanwhile, Mardy Fish of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis returned to No. 1 in the United States after one week. Fish rose one notch to No. 9 in this week's world rankings, and John Isner dropped two places to No. 11. Both were off last week.
   Men's Challenger in Sarasota, Fla. -- No. 6 seed Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas, topped No. 5 Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-3 to win the $50,000 Sarasota Challenger on clay.
   It was the first singles title for Querrey, a right-hander who underwent surgery on his right elbow last June, since Los Angeles on the ATP World Tour in July 2010.  
   Women's Challenger in Dothan, Ala. -- Unseeded Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., nipped American wild cards Irina Falconi and CoCo Vandeweghe, a member of the
Capitals, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 10-7 tiebreak in the semifinals of the $50,000 Dothan Pro Classic.
   Bouchard and Pegula, 18-year-olds born one day apart, then edged top-seeded Sharon Fichman and Marie-Eve Pelletier, both of Canada, 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 tiebreak for the title. 

THIS WEEK'S TV SCHEDULE

(All times PDT)

   Thursday -- Barcelona (men), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 4:30-10:30 a.m. (live), 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (repeat), 4 p.m.-midnight (repeat).

   Friday -- Barcelona (men), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 3:30-9:30 a.m. (live), 7:30-11:30 p.m. (repeat); Stuttgart (women), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. (delay).

   Saturday -- Stuttgart (women), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 5-7 a.m. (live), 7-10 a.m. (repeat), 9:30-11:30 a.m. (live), 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (repeat); Barcelona (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (delay); Bucharest (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 4:30-8:30 p.m. (delay). 

   Sunday -- Barcelona (men), final, Tennis Channel, 7-9:30 a.m. (live), 5-7:30 p.m. (repeat); Stuttgart (women), final, Tennis Channel, 9:30-11:30 a.m. (live), 1:30-3:30 p.m. (repeat), 7:30-9:30 p.m. (repeat); Bucharest (men), final, Tennis Channel, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (delay).

   CALENDAR

   Wednesday-Saturday -- Pacific-12 Conference Men's Championships, Ojai.

   Thursday-Sunday -- Pacific-12 Conference Women's Championships, Ojai; Big West Conference Women's Championships, Indian Wells.

   Friday-Sunday -- Big West Conference Men's Championships, Indian Wells.

   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).