May 5, 1999

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's tennis team used a late-season rally to earn a berth to the NCAA championships for the sixth consecutive year as the national subcommittee announced the 64-team field Wednesday.

The Rebels, 12-9 overall and 6-3 in the WAC, will travel to Fresno, Calif., for the regional tournament. They will take on host Fresno State in the first round of the two-day event. The Bulldogs (18-8), who are ranked 25th, earned the automatic NCAA bid by upsetting then-eighth-ranked SMU to win the WAC championship. In a meeting earlier this year, Fresno State downed UNLV 5-2 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

The survivor will play the winner of a match between 12th-seeded Southern California (18-4) and Mid-Continent Conference champion Missouri-Kansas City (14-4).

The winners of 16 regionals across the country advance to Athens, Ga., on May 22-25 to decide the national champion. UCLA (21-2) is the top seed while defending-champion Stanford (18-2) is No. 2.

After dropping to 6-8 on April 1, UNLV won six of its last seven matches to rise 25 spots to No. 43 in the latest rankings. The rally, which included victories over four teams ranked better than 40, ensured that the Rebels would continue their streak of playing in the NCAA postseason every year since the field was expanded to 64 in 1994.

UNLV hosted the last three NCAA regionals after the event was played for two years on the campus of UCLA. The Rebels have never advanced past the semifinals.

Also, UNLV's women's team (9-14), which also won five out of its last six, did not make a regional field for the first time since 1996.

1999 NCAA MEN'S TENNIS REGIONALFresno, Calif., May 15-16, Southern California (18-4) vs. Missouri-Kansas City (14-4)UNLV (12-9) vs. Fresno State (18-8)