SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Big Sky Conference regular season champion Sacramento State women's tennis team racked up a number of postseason honors as the league office announced its postseason honor roll on Wednesday afternoon.
Head Coach Sophie Breault was named Big Sky Coach of the Year and newcomer Cami Maldonado Gutierrez was named Freshman of the Year to headline a list of six Hornets who were named to the All-Big Sky teams in both singles and doubles for the 2025-26 season.
Breault becomes the third Hornet mentor to be named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year and the first since 2011, joining former Sacramento State head coaches Bill Campbell and Dima Hrynashka as winners of the award. Meanwhile, Maldonado Gutierrez became the first Hornet to win the league's top freshman honor since the award was first handed out in 2017.
A total of four Sacramento State players were named to the honor roll in singles as redshirt junior Lou Baudouin was a unanimous first-team selection and was joined on the list by junior Irene Riva. Maldonado Gutierrez was named to the second team in singles while senior Palina Saulevich was an honorable mention choice.
In doubles, the tandem of Riva and Saulevich were unanimous selections to the first team, while the pairings of Maldonado Gutierrez and Reese Walker along with Baudouin and Emilija Pranyte were both honorable mention selections.
As the league's regular season champion, Sacramento State is the top seed in this week's Big Sky Championships at the Phoenix Tennis Center in Phoenix, Ariz., which begin on Thursday (April 23) at 8 a.m.
As the top seed, the Hornets, who have won the last two conference tournament titles, have Thursday off and face the winner of the opening-round match between No. 4 Eastern Washington and No. 5 Idaho in the semifinals on Friday (April 24) at 8 a.m. A win advances Sacramento State to Saturday's (April 25) championship match at 8 a.m. PT.
Northern Arizona is the No. 2 seed and will face either No. 3 Idaho State or No. 6 Montana State in Thursday's other semifinal.
Sacramento State enters the postseason on a roll, winning their last five straight to close out the year while sporting a 17-5 overall record and a 7-1 mark in league play. Sacramento State improved to 9-0 at home following the match against the Vikings, extending the program's home winning streak to 18 consecutive triumphs dating back to last year.
2025-26 BIG SKY CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TENNIS AWARDS
MVP: Kelsey Phillips, Montana
Freshman of the Year: Cami Maldonado Gutierrez, Sacramento State
Coach of the Year: Sophie Breault, Sacramento State
First Team - Singles
Kelsey Phillips, Montana*
Patrycja Niewiadomska, Northern Arizona*
Lou Baudouin, Sacramento State*
Millie Day, Idaho State
Irene Riva, Sacramento State
Angel Bean, Montana State
Second Team - Singles
Andrea Noguera, Northern Arizona
Natalie Rainke, Northern Arizona
Marta Giglio, Portland State
Cami Maldonado Gutierrez, Sacramento State
Veronika Zarovna, Idaho State
Zoe Pradel, Eastern Washington
Honorable Mention - Singles
Emmy Richards, Idaho State
Elen Jantacova, Northern Arizona
Palina Saulevich, Sacramento State
Stefanya Shalakhova, Idaho State
First Team - Doubles
Irene Riva / Palina Saulevich, Sacramento State*
Stefanya Shalakhova/Victoria Zarovna, Idaho State
Marta Giglio/Hana Abdelhamid, Portland State
Second Team - Doubles
Angel Bean/Nia Gelashvili, Montana State
Elen Jantacova/Natalie Rainke, Northern Arizona
Patrycja Niewiadomska/Andrea Noguera, Northern Arizona
Honorable Mention - Doubles
Cami Maldonado Gutierrez / Reese Walker, Sacramento State
Lou Baudouin / Emilija Pranyte, Sacramento State
* - unanimous first-team selection
Honorable Mention must receive at least 3 votes
