Sept. 13, 2001

LAS VEGAS - For only the second time in school history two UNLV women's tennis players have earned a spot in the national preseason rankings, which were released Thursday by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Junior Paulina Janus of Warsaw, Poland, is ranked a career-high No. 41 after closing last season at No. 67. After transferring to UNLV from Azusa Pacific last season, Janus played at the top singles spot and finished 16-8, including a trip to the NCAA Singles Championship.

Sophomore Agnieszka Abram, also from Warsaw, is ranked No. 80. The 2001 Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year reached a career-high 39th last December after a 5-3 fall tournament performance, but finished the season unranked with a 17-14 record.

The only other time UNLV had two women's players appear in the preseason singles rankings was 1996 when three-time All-American Marianne Vallin began at No. 12 and Veronica Goude was No. 83.

No UNLV women's doubles team or anyone from the Rebel men's team was ranked in Thursday's release.

"We're excited to have two players rank among the top 100 players in the country," UNLV women's head coach Kevin Cory said. "It's certainly significant to begin the year in such a solid position and shows that we have a lot to look forward to this season."

The Lady Rebels open tournament play Sept. 28-30 by hosting the UNLV Invitational vs. players from LSU, Oklahoma State and Minnesota.