June 1, 2000
LAS VEGAS - Fresh off her NCAA semifinals appearance, UNLV's Katarina Malec became the second-highest ranked Lady Rebel ever after jumping to No. 18 in the season's final WingspanBank.com Collegiate Rankings, which were released Thursday by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Malec, who turned heads as the only unseeded player among college tennis' final four, closed with a 39-6 overall singles record. By improving 11 spots, the senior enjoyed the biggest jump of anyone in the final top 20. The nation's top-three ranked players - Laura Granville and Marissa Irvin both of Stanford and Aarthi Venkatesan of Georgia -- all had joined Malec in last week's semifinals at Malibu, Calif.
Malec set seven school records this spring, including most single-season victories and highest career winning percentage in both singles and doubles. A native of Warsaw, Poland, Malec boasted a 17-3 record vs. ranked opponents, including three victories over players who finished in the top 10.
With her NCAA run and final ranking, the league's player of the year became the second All-American in UNLV women's history and the only player from the Mountain West Conference to earn the honor in 2000.
The only other UNLV player to be ranked higher than Malec was Marianne Vallin who climbed as high as No. 4 during the 1997 season. Vallin, the only other All-American in school history, also holds the program record for highest final ranking at No. 13 in both 1994 and '96.
Malec and her playing partner, sophomore Marianne Bakken, also improved one spot in the doubles rankings to No. 26 after becoming the first duo in school history to win an NCAA match. The Lady Rebel pair, which finished with a 25-4 record, was eliminated from the round of 16 last week by eventual national champions Claire Curran and Amy Jensen of Cal.
The UNLV women's team (15-9), which won its first-ever conference title in April, also moved up one spot to finish No. 53. On the men's side, the Rebels had no individuals ranked and the team did not finish ranked for the first time since 1993.
