March 31, 2000

LAS VEGAS - Nenad Zivkovic fought off elimination and went on to win a three-set thriller to help the unranked UNLV men's tennis team rally past No. 50 BYU at the Fertitta Tennis Complex Friday.

The Rebels improved to 7-11 overall and moved into a tie for first place in the Mountain West Conference at 3-1. The Cougars fell to 9-7 and suffered their first loss in four league matches this season.

Playing in heavy winds, BYU began the day by eking out two of three doubles matches for one team point. Winning for UNLV was the No. 2 team of Danny Erez and Vladimir Pavicevic, 8-4, over David White and Jeff Olsen.

The Cougars then took a 3-1 lead after winning two of three singles points - both in straight sets. UNLV, however, got wins from Robbie Parlade at No. 6, Gregor Skorin at No. 5 and then Tyler Roberts at No. 4 to pull even.

The day's final match came at the second position where Zivkovic, who was just 4-15 this season in singles, dropped the first set to Gert Vilms in a tiebreaker. Two games from defeat in the second set, Zivkovic rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win in another tiebreaker. After nearly five hours on the court, the junior then outlasted Vilms in the deciding set to earn his team its biggest victory of the season, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 7-5.

UNLV, which is now 5-1 at home this spring, closes out its regular season by hosting MWC rival New Mexico Sunday at noon.

2000 UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTSUNLV 4, BYU 3


SINGLES-1.  Damien Ward (BYU) def. Vladimir Pavicevic (UNLV)6-1, 6-02.  Nenad Zivkovic (UNLV) def. Gert Vilms (BYU) 6-7, 7-6, 7-53.  Carlos Lozano (BYU) def. Danny Erez (UNLV)  6-2, 6-24.  Tyler Roberts (UNLV) def. David White (BYU) 7-6, 7-65.  Gregor Skorin (UNLV) def. Anton Rudjuk (BYU)    7-6, 7-56.  Robbie Parlade (UNLV) def. Michael Faust (BYU)  6-1, 6-2


DOUBLES-1.  Ward/Vilms (BYU) def. Zivkovic/Skorin (UNLV)    9-72.  Erez/Pavicevic (UNLV) def. White/Jeff Olsen (BYU)8-43.  Lozano/Rudjuk (BYU) def. Parlade/Roberts (UNLV) 9-8