April 3, 2008

San Francisco women's tennis (5-7) will take on No. 37 Saint Mary's and No. 42 Sacramento State this weekend. The WCC contest versus the Gaels, taking place at Golden Gate Park, is set to begin Friday at 2 p.m. PDT. The Dons and Hornets tango Saturday at Rio Del Oro Raquet Club in Sacramento with first serve set for 1 p.m. PDT.

ABOUT THE COMPETITION:

SAINT MARY'S (12-4)

In their last meeting on February 26, Saint Mary's topped San Francisco 5-2. For Dons fans had a bright spot as San Francisco's Jennifer Heinser defeated then No. 57 Jessica Hoath to improve to 7-0. Heinser is currently 12-0 and ranked 66th nationally.

Heinser topped Hoath in three sets 6-1, 0-6, 1-0. She also partnered with freshman Cecilia Gratian to open the doubles portion of the competition with a 8-6 win over Hoath and Nienke Strijbis. Sarah Oudomvilay scored the Dons' second point of the dual by coming back from a 6-3 first set loss to defeat Strijbis at the No. 5 singles spot 3-6, 6-3, 1-0.

Saint Mary's earned it's fourth consecutive win, as they took down the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 6-1, on March 29. Two out of the Gaels' three doubles teams recorded wins, capturing the doubles point, while earning five points in singles play.

Seniors Stef Ordoveza and Feline Charlot paired-up to defeat UC Santa Barbara's Jill Damion and Asagi Onaga, 8-4. At the three position the freshman duo of Alex Poorta and Calire Soper took down Tova Hausman and Brittany Kausen, 8-3. In singles action senior Jessica Hoath dominated Marta Simic, capturing a 6-2, 6-2 win at the No. 1 position. Poorta and Soper defeated their opponents, 6-4, 6-2, and 6-3, 6-2 respectively, and rounding out the singles wins were Ninke Strijbis and Erin Young, recording the victory at the No. 4 and No. 6 spots.

SACRAMENTO STATE(16-4)

San Francisco and Sacramento State last met on February 15, 2001 with the Hornets defeating the Dons, 7-0.

The Hornets' Anastassia Lyssenko is the reigning Big Sky Conference Player of the Week. A native of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Lyssenko went 4-0 in both singles and doubles play last week. In singles action, Lyssenko dropped just 11 of 59 games played, and did not lose a set. She recorded two victories at No. 2 singles, a victory at No. 3 singles, as well as a victory at No. 4 singles. At No. 3 doubles, Lyssenko combined with teammate Aileen Tsan to win all four matches by 8-2 or 8-3 scores.

She now has a five-match winning streak in both singles and doubles play, and has posted a 12-7 dual-match singles record, and a 13-6 mark in doubles play.

Last time out Sacramento State women's tennis team finished Big Sky Conference play 8-0, after posting a 6-1 victory over Northern Colorado on Monday, March 31 at Work Out West in Greeley, Colo.

The Hornets started the day by winning the doubles point, posting victories in the first two matches to finish. The junior tandem of Luba Schifris and Karina Jarlkaganova took down Jodi Ciarvella and Karen Groll at No. 2 doubles 8-2, and the team of sophomore Aileen Tsan and junior Anastassia Lyssenko defeated Tiffany Knop and Luiza Xavier at No. 3 doubles by the same margin.

The Hornets then took home five of the six singles matches, which were not started simultaneously due to the number of indoor courts. Schifris collected a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Manuela Santos at No. 2 singles to pace the Hornet charge, while Lyssenko remained perfect on the week, improving her conference record to 7-1 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Tiffany Knop at No. 3 singles. At the No. 4 position, Jarlkaganova defeated Groll 6-1, 6-0, while junior Joyce Martinez Gutierrez took down Xavier 6-1, 6-0.

USF'S LAST DUAL

Having to finish early due to rain, San Francisco defeated UC Santa Barbara 4-2 last Friday at the Golden Gateway Tennis and Swim Club. After losing the doubles point to the Gauchos, USF won four of five singles' matches to mark the "W".

Down 2-5 in the third set at the No. 3 singles position, Emma Taylor battled back to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 and clinch for USF. Jennifer-Lee Heinser, Mylene Martin and Jessy Mekpoh were also victorious. Heinser topped Marta Simic 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1. At No. 2, Martin defeated Jill Damion, 7-5, 6-3. Mekpoh took Tova Hausman at No. 5 by a score of 6-2, 6-3.

Heinser and Martin won at No. 1 doubles with an 8-3 score over Simic and Scatliffe.