Over the last decade, the Sacramento State women’s tennis team has been nothing short of dominant. The Hornets have never lost a conference match or a conference title since 2002.
Along the way, Sacramento State has earned the MVP award every season since 2003. Katrina Zheltova was the second Hornet player to earn the honor three straight seasons. Zheltova was also the program’s second All-American, advancing to the round of 16 in the 2008 NCAA Singles Tournament.
Zheltova’s all-around success on the court places her at No. 14 on the Big Sky’s list of “25 Greatest Female Athletes.”
Zheltova, a native of Minsk, Belarus, played for the Hornets from 2007-2010 and went undefeated during her career against Big Sky competition. In fact, she didn’t even drop a set to a Big Sky opponent during her sophomore and junior seasons.
During her freshman season, Zheltova went 18-5 in singles play; all at the No. 1 spot. Out of her five losses that season, four of them came against opponents that were ranked in the top 64 in the nation. She was voted the Big Sky MVP and was First Team all-Big Sky.
In the first round of the 2007 NCAA Singles Tournament, Zheltova upset 24th ranked Vanja Corovic of Texas in three sets. Zheltova fell to seventh-ranked Natalie Frazier of Georgia in the second round.
“Her freshman year she did well. But she was, as many freshman, kind of learning things,” said Sacramento State Director of Tennis Bill Campbell. ”But the talent was always there. I always thought that she quite honestly had the talent to be one of the best players in the world.”
In 2008, her sophomore season, Zheltova was named the Big Sky Conference MVP for the second straight season after going 13-5 in singles play, again at the No. 1 position. She went 4-0 against Big Sky opponents during regular and postseason play, missing six total matches with a back injury.
“She was a very hard worker, which was very special,” said Campbell. “I think the most outstanding thing was that she was such a good competitor.”
As a sophomore, Zheltova became the second Sacramento State women’s tennis player to gain All-America status after reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Singles Championships.
In the first round of the 2008 Singles Tournament, Zheltova defeated Laura Gioia of Furman. In the second round, she beat a top 10 opponent, Sanaz Marand of North Carolina.
“My first two matches were three-set matches, it was stressful,” said Zheltova. “As long as you get past the first round, the next one just comes easier even though the players are still hard.”
“Her second season, everything kind of came together for her,” said Campbell, “She was comfortable being here and she was comfortable with school, everything kind of fit together.”
Zheltova eventually lost to a top five-opponent, Maria Mosolova of Northwestern in straight sets.
“I was playing (Mosolova), and I knew her,’’ Zheltova said. “She was from Russia. You feel that pressure that it’s your friend, it’s a little different but I mean you just have to do it.”
Zheltova finished the season ranked 34th in the nation.
“I think it was my sophomore year where my coach (Dima Hrynashka) told me, ‘When you’re a freshman everything is new for you, you don’t know who you’re going to play against. But when it’s your sophomore season, everything is pretty familiar.”
During her junior year, Zheltova started out the season ranked No. 21. She went on to win her third straight Big Sky Conference MVP award, posting a 13-4 singles record, including a 5-0 conference record. She didn’t drop a single set in Big Sky play for the second straight season. Zheltova missed 11 matches during the season due to injury.
She competed in the NCAA Singles Championship for the third straight year. Zheltova lost in the first round to South Carolina’s Gira Schofield in three sets.
As a team in 2009, Sacramento State faced No. 17 Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. Zheltova defeated 63rd ranked Chisako Sugiyama at the No. 1 spot. The Hornets lost the match 4-2.
Before her senior season was cut short due to injuries, Zheltova went 8-3 at No. 1 singles. She opened the season ranked No. 26 in the country. The statistical highlight of the season was when Zheltova upset No. 4 Denise Dy of Washington in straight sets.
“She made a solid effort all the time she was out there,” said Campbell. “Unfortunately she got hurt her senior year and that kind of held her back. She was playing really well her senior year.”
During her career, she collected a 52-17 record in singles play, all at the No. 1 position.
“It wasn’t that hard because before I came, I was on the Belarus national team, so I was already playing nationally,” Zheltova said of playing at the No. 1 spot from day one. “When you are playing against someone and they are the top players, you pretty much know that if you lose, you lose to someone who is a top rank in the nation.”
Bill Campbell could tell that Zheltova was different than most student-athletes.
“With many student-athletes, by their senior year they’re thinking of other things in life. Katrina was different,” said Campbell. “When she was on the court, 99% of the time she was totally focused on being competitive and winning. She was great to have on the team.”
Zheltova’s connection to Sacramento State traces a long way back.
“Dima (Hyrnashka) and Slava (Konikov) knew me since I was little,” said Zheltova. “They invited me to play for the team and I was thinking, ‘yeah I want to go to America, but I don’t know how the whole process works.’ I was one of the first people to go to America from my country and play college.”
Zheltova not only had to adjust to her first year of college; she also had to adjust to living in America.
“When you come your first year and you’re 17 or 18, and you go outside and people ask you ‘How are you?’ You’re shocked,’’ she said. “You never heard that back home.
“My first and second year we had like five Russians so it was easy because we can speak the same language,” said Zheltova about the team coming together. “But when you have a lot of internationals, everyone is different and everyone is pretty much concentrating on English because no one was really that good in English.”
Bill Campbell was a very instrumental part in Zheltova’s success on and off the court.
“He was like my father, he was really helpful throughout the whole four years,” she said. “Bill did a lot, not just for me; he did a lot for everyone on the team. I pretty much shared everything with him. He helped me learn the language, because when I came here I didn’t know any English. But without coach (Dima Hyrnashka). I wouldn’t be here.”
As she looks back on her career at Sacramento State, one of Zheltova’s most memorable moments was when they played a match at Northern Arizona when the team didn’t know how to handle the altitude difference.
“I’ve never played at that altitude so I didn’t know how to play in it,’’ she said. “Both teams started warming up, but honestly nobody on our team could see the ball inside the court because it was just flying out.”
The team was looking to their coach for answers.
“We thought it was a joke,” said Zheltova. “Everyone was looking at the coach and he was just like sitting there drinking coffee and coach said, ‘I don’t know how to explain it. You have to figure it out.’ “
“I figured out how to play in it just fine. I didn’t know it was even possible to play there,” said Zheltova. “At the beginning it was so funny to see everyone looking at the ball like something was wrong.”
The Hornets ended up defeating Northern Arizona 4-3, one of the team’s closest Big Sky matches since 2002.
Zheltova is still heavily involved with tennis. She currently works for the Weil Tennis Academy in Ojai, Calif.
