April 22, 2000
LAS VEGAS - BYU won two matches using tiebreakers to rally for a 4-3 victory over UNLV on the final day of the inaugural Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championship at the Lobo Tennis Club Saturday.
In its closest match of the season, UNLV began the day by winning No. 2 doubles befor falling 9-7 at No.1 and then losing a tiebreaker at No. 3, 9-8 (7-5) to hand BYU one team point.
In singles play, UNLV got on the board with wins from Nenad Zivkovic at No. 2, Tyler Roberts at No. 4 and Gregor Skorin at No. 5. BYU, however, won two other matches to tie things at three apiece. At the top spot, the Rebels' Vladimir Pavicevic battled Damien Ward in the decisive match. Pavicevic cruised in the first set before Ward bounced back to win the second set and pull out the third with a grueling tiebreaker victory, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9).
The third-seeded Rebels had to settle for finishing in fourth place while falling to 8-14 overall and 4-4 vs. MWC teams in the first season of the new league while the third-place Cougars improved to 12-10 overall.
In the championship, host New Mexico upset top-seeded San Diego State 4-1 to win the first-ever MWC title. Late Friday, Utah defeated Air Force 4-1 to win fifth place.
2000 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPBYU 4, UNLV 3Third-Place Match -- At Lobo Tennis Club, Albuquerque, NM
SINGLES--1. Damien Ward (BYU) def. Vladimir Pavicevic (UNLV) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9)2. Nenad Zivkovic (UNLV) def. Carlos Lozano (BYU) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)3. Gert Vilms (BYU) def. Danny Erez (UNLV) 6-3, 6-34. Tyler Roberts (UNLV) def. David White (BYU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-25. Gregor Skorin (UNLV) def. Anton Rudjuk (BYU) 6-4, 6-16. Jeff Olsen (BYU) def. Robbie Parlade (UNLV) 6-3, 6-4
DOUBLES--1. Ward/Vilms (BYU) def. Zivkovic/Skorin (UNLV) 9-72. Pavicevic/Erez (UNLV) def. Lozano/Rudjuk (BYU) 8-63. White/Olsen (BYU) def. Parlade/Roberts (UNLV) 9-8 (7-5)
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TENNIS2000 FINAL STANDINGS1. New Mexico2. San Diego State3. BYU4. UNLV5. Utah6. Air Force
