BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Sacramento State won its fourth straight match, and seven of the last eight, with a 5-2 road win at Montana State on Saturday morning at Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center.
The Hornets improved to 12-5 overall and 4-1 in the Big Sky Conference. In addition, the team has lost just once since Feb. 24, and that was a very tight 4-3 loss to Northern Arizona.
Coupled with Sacramento State's 5-2 win at Montana on Thursday, the Hornets swept the Montana schools on the road for the first time since 2008. The loss for Montana State (7-9, 2-2) was the first at home, as the Bobcats had been 4-0. MSU was playing its first home match since Jan. 27, snapping a string of 11 straight contests on the road.
Sacramento State opened the match by winning the doubles point, as
Mark Keki/
Mate Voros won at No. 1, 7-6, and 7-4 in the tiebreak to clinch the point.
Jiri Novak/
Jan Silva won at No. 3 by a 6-3 score.
Keki (6-3, 6-4 at No. 1), Voros (6-3, 7-5 at No. 2), Silva (5-7, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3) and
Rudolfs Aksenoks (2-6, 7-5, 10-3) each won in singles play. Silva clinched the fourth point and victory for the Hornets. Both Keki and Aksenoks won their seventh straight singles match, while Keki/Voros won their seventh consecutive doubles contest.
"Our guys competed every point today in singles and doubles," Sacramento State head coach
Kevin Kurtz said. "No one lost focus, stuck to the game plan, and we are very pleased with our guys' performance not just today, but this entire road trip."
Sacramento State, currently 3-0 on a stretch that will see the team play six straight Big Sky opponents, returns to action for its final home match on Saturday vs. Portland State at 1 p.m. Only four matches remain in the regular season before the Big Sky Tournament April 25-27 in Phoenix, Ariz.
