Sac State women's 13-year streak ends; Easter Bowl

The Sacramento State women's tennis team, coached by Dima Hrynashka (front left)
poses after winning the 2012 Big Sky Conference tournament. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Sacramento State women went 13 years without losing a Big Sky Conference match.
   Then they lost two in one day.
   Short-handed Sac State fell to Montana 4-3 in Missoula, Mont., ending the Hornets' Big Sky-record 112-match conference winning streak, and Montana State by the same score in Bozeman, Mont., on Friday.
   In the deciding match against Montana, freshman Deimante Bulatovaite of Lithuania lost to Ashley Mackey 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6) at No. 5 singles after holding three match points at 5-4 in the third set.
   With just five healthy players, Sac State (9-14, 7-2) forfeited two matches against Montana State (7-10, 4-4).
   The loss to Montana (12-7, 7-0) was the Hornets' first in conference play since a 4-1 setback to Weber State on April 14, 2001, in the Big Sky tournament. The streak was the longest by a team in any sport in Big Sky history and is believed to be the longest ever in NCAA Division I tennis.
   Sac State played without injured Jennifer Nguyen (No. 1 singles) and Katharina Knoebl (No. 4-5) in both matches Friday and lost Alina Soltanici (No. 1-3) and Daria Savchenko (No. 2-3) to injuries against Montana.
   Easter Bowl in Indian Wells -- Five Northern Californians reached the singles semifinals in various age groups in the prestigious junior tournament.
   Advancing were fourth-seeded CiCi Bellis of Atherton and seventh-seeded Michaela Gordon of Saratoga in the girls 18s, 11th-seeded Alexander Keyser of Danville in the boys 16s, second-seeded Keenan Mayo of Roseville in the boys 14s and sixth-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the girls 12s.
   Bellis, who turned 15 on Tuesday, will meet No. 1 seed Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., today.

FRIDAY'S COLLEGE RESULTS
Women

   Montana 4, Sacramento State 3 and Montana State 4, Sac State 3
   No. 7 Stanford 4, Oregon 0
   No. 28 Pepperdine 4, Pacific 0
   No. 74 Fresno State 5, San Jose State 2
   USF 6, Portland 1

   Hawaii Pacific 5, UC Davis 2

Men

   No. 19 Cal 4, Oregon 0
   No. 43 Stanford 4, Washington 3
   Saint Mary's 4, Loyola Marymount 0
   USF 5, Gonzaga 2
   UC Santa Barbara 5, UC Davis 2
   Pepperdine 4, Pacific 1