May 1, 1998

FORT WORTH, Texas - UNLV's strong doubles performance earned it both a 5-3 upset win over New Mexico and the school's first spot in a WAC Women's Tennis Championship final.

Seventh-seeded UNLV evened its record at 11-11 and improved to 4-2 in the league after eliminating the third-seeded and 25th-ranked Lobos in the third round at the Mary Potishman Lard Tennis Center Friday.

The Lady Rebels had to make a furious comeback after quickly falling behind 3-1 in singles. Lisa Annebro had won her match for UNLV's only point before Veronica Goude won a third-set tie-breaker and Britta Gabl won the final four games in her third set to even things at three apiece.

"We were basically dead in the water," Head Coach Ola Malmqvist said about his team coming out flat. "But I think facing 10 top-25 teams this year really helped us learn how to hang in there and stay aggressive instead of packing it in. We saw how good teams find a way to win and used that knowledge today."

The Lady Rebels, who had struggled in doubles all year, turned in their best performance of the season with victories in both completed matches. Gee Gee Garvin teamed with Goude to defeat 43rd-ranked Ana Friganovic and Joanne Shortall 8-3 at the top spot. Annebro and Gabl won by the same score over Aimee Hites and Natalia Alekhova at the third position for the clincher. UNLV was leading the other match 7-4 when it was haulted.

UNLV, ranked 38th nationally, is set to meet 7th-ranked Brigham Young in Saturday's championship. The Cougars, who won 5-0 over Fresno State in the other semifinal, have only lost one team point in three rounds and have not even had to play a doubles match.

"BYU is fresh and we've had three marathon matches," Malmqvist said. "We're going to go on guts and adrenaline and see what happens."

In the teams' previous meeting this year, BYU defeated UNLV 7-1 on April 10 in Provo, Utah.

UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS1998 WAC CHAMPIONSHIP - SEMIFINALSUNLV 5, NEW MEXICO 3At Mary Potishman Lard Tennis Center, Forth Worth, TX
SINGLES-1.  Ana Friganovic (UNM) def. Gee Gee Garvin (UNLV)         6-3, 6-32.  Joanne Shortall (UNM) def. Susie Kocsis (UNLV)          6-4, 6-4 3.  Veronica Goude (UNLV) def. Claudia Gutierrez (UNM)      2-6, 6-3, 7-64.  Lisa Annebro (UNLV) def. Aimee Hites (UNM)          6-4, 7-6    5.  Britta Gabl (UNLV) def. Dominika Gerwin (UNM)           4-6, 6-2, 6-36.  Natalia Alekhova (UNM) def. Marie Linusson (UNLV)       6-2, 6-2
DOUBLES-1.  Garvin/Goude (UNLV) def. Friganovic/Shortall (UNM)      8-32.  Kocsis/Marcella Valkenhoff (UNLV) vs. Gutierrez/Gerwin (UNM)    Cancelled3.  Annebro/Gabl (UNLV) def. Hites/Alekhova (UNM)           8-3