The Bobcat tennis teams will compete at the Big Sky Conference championships this weekend in Sacramento.
Next Up:
The Montana State men’s and women’s tennis teams will compete in the Big Sky Conference Tennis Championships, April 24-26 at the Gold River Racquet Club in Gold River, Calif, outside of Sacramento. The Hornets are the host school. Prior to the tournament, the MSU men’s team will face Sacramento State on Thursday at 2 p.m. (MST) in a match that will determine championship seeding. A win over the Hornets will give the Bobcats the No. 3 seed and a quarterfinal match Friday against Montana. A loss will give Montana State the No. 5 seed and a first-round contest against Weber State. The first round of the men’s tournament will be played Friday at 11 a.m. Sacramento State and Eastern Washington are the top two seeds and receive a bye to the semifinals. The Montana State women’s squad enters the weekend as the No. 2 seed with a first-round bye. The Bobcats will face the highest remaining seed on Saturday at 3 p.m. Sacramento State earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of its undefeated season. The rest of the women’s field includes No. 3 Northern Arizona, No. 4 Northern Colorado, No. 5 Eastern Washington and No. 6 Montana. The championship matches will be played Sunday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Tourney Talk:
The Montana State women’s team enters the tournament with an 11-8 overall mark and a 7-1 Big Sky slate- its best league mark in history...Sophomore Stephanie Jasper and freshman Missy Harris will guide MSU...Jasper has posted a 13-6 overall mark, while Harris is 15-2 overall...both have garnered Big Sky Player of the Week honors...the MSU men’s team has won four Big Sky titles this decade (2000, 2004, 2005, 2006)...Corey Smith and Jakub Dybala anchor the top of MSU’s line-up...Smith is 9-12 overall, while Dybala has a 12-9 mark...sophomore all-Big Sky performer Fletcher Keyes is 12-9 and has won his last six consecutive matches.
Big Sky Conference Players of the Week:
Jakub Dybala and Stephanie Jasper garnered Big Sky Player of the Week accolades. A native of Lodz, Poland, Dybala edged Idaho State’s Alex Buceta 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles. He teamed with Pawel Turzanski at No. 1 doubles for an 8-3 win. In MSU’s 4-3 win over Montana, Dybala defeated Mikolaj Borkowski 6-3, 6-4. He also notched another doubles victory. Jasper, a native of Bozeman, Mont., helped the Bobcats secure the No. 2 seed with wins over the Bengals and the Wildcats. She went 4-0 on the weekend. The sophomore beat Weber State’s Keya Jenkins 6-1, 6-0 in singles, after teaming with Missy Harris for an 8-5 doubles win. She turned around to knock off Idaho State’s Lisel Lewis on Saturday 6-3, 6-0. Jasper and Harris also beat the Bengals top doubles team in that win.
For this week's complete tennis release, click on the 'PDF Version Available' link at the top of this page.