April 11, 2009

Sacramento, Calif. - The Pacific women's tennis tennis team concluded their 2009 schedule with a 6-1 loss against the No. 49 Sacramento State Hornets on Saturday, April 11 in Sacramento, Calif. The loss moved the Tigers to 8-13 overall for the season as the Hornets improved to 17-8.

Sacramento had an early lead winning the doubles point, 2-1, with victories in the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. One doubles win came for the Tigers from the No. 2 slot as senior Jolanta Twarowska (Hamburg, Germany) and junior Sasha Fisher (Southampton, Bermuda) defeated the Hornets' Joyce Martinez and Clarisse Baca, 8-5.

In singles action Saturday, the Tigers played strong but were overpowered by the No. 49 ranked Sac State Hornets. Sac State took a 2-0 lead as Joyce Martinez dominated Pacific sophomore Olga Gumenyuk (Kiev, Ukraine) to win the No. 6 position match, 6-0, 6-0.

Following Gumenyuk's match, Tiger senior Jolanta Twarowska (Hamburg, Germany) walked away from her final regular season match with a strong victory. Twarowska defeated the Hornets' Maria Meliuk, 6-0 in the first set and Meliuk was then forced to retire giving Twaroska the No. 2 singles victory. The overall score was then a close 2-1.

The Tigers' No. 1 position player, nationally ranked No. 84 sophomore Jenifer Widjaja (Sao Roque, Sao Paulo, Brazil) faced an upset when Sacramento's No. 110 Katrina Zheltova easily defeated Widjaja, 6-3, 6-2. This victory clinched the win for Sac State as the score moved to 4-1.

With the loss Widjaja's impressive record moves to an overall 17-4 for her premier season with the Tigers.

The Tigers return to action Friday, April 17 as they travel to Indian Wells, Calif. to compete against the Cal State Northridge Matadors in the 2009 Big West Tournament.

Women's Tennis Results
No. 49 Sacramento State 6, Pacific 1
Rio Del Oro Racquet Club (Gold River, Calif.)

Doubles (Sac State wins point, 2-1)
1. No. 78 Katrina Zheltova / Melissa Valenzuela (SAC) def. Olga Gumenyuk / Jenifer Widjaja (PAC), 8-2
2. Jolanta Twarowska / Sasha Fisher (PAC) def. Joyce Martinez / Clarisse Baca (SAC), 8-5
3. Maria Meliuk / Aileen Tsan (SAC) def. Kateryna Nezhura / Svenja Arens (PAC), 8-4

Order of finish:
1, 2, 3

Singles
1. No. 110 Katrina Zheltova (SAC) def. No. 84 Jenifer Widjaja (PAC), 6-3, 6-2
2. Jolanta Twarowska (PAC) def. Maria Meliuk (SAC), 6-0, ret.
3. Melissa Valenzuela (SAC) def. Svenja Arens (PAC), 6-3, 6-2
4. Luba Schifris (SAC) def. Kateryna Nezhura (PAC), 6-0, 6-3
5. Clarisse Baca (SAC) def. Clara Schuhmacher (PAC), 6-3, 6-1
6. Joyce Martinez (SAC) def. Olga Gumenyuk (PAC), 6-0, 6-0

Order of finish:
6, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3