Fresh off the program's first league title in school history, which was led by a senior All-American who pushed her way into the NCAA singles final four, UNLV women's tennis was ripe for a rebuilding job in 2001.

Second-year head coach Kevin Cory knew the loss of No. 1 singles and doubles ace Katarina Malec along with second star Veronica Goude would make defending the inaugural Mountain West Conference championship a tall order.

But something funny happened on the way to the bottom of the league standings. The Lady Rebels used hard work, perseverance and an infusion of talented newcomers to make a soft landing and turn a potential throwaway season into an overall success.

"There is no question that we were in a rebuilding process," Cory said. "I expected a rough year going in but I felt that we certainly competed well. We had a young team and our only two seniors played fourth and fifth and one of them was injured for much of the season. However, the fact that we had an outstanding recruiting class coming in really helped."

Said class was small but sensational: Agnieszka Abram came on board in the fall and posted an impressive enough individual tournament season to go from unranked all the way to No. 39 in December. Meanwhile, fellow Polish player Paulina Janus transferred in from an NAIA school in January and quickly took over at the top spot in singles and doubles. Add that dynamic duo to the return of record-setting doubles player and solid No. 3 performer Marianne Bakken, and suddenly the immediate future looked brighter.

Ranked 55th heading into spring, UNLV kicked off with a six-match homestand. However, No. 74 San Diego upset the Lady Rebels 4-3 in the opener. After a loss to No. 10 Pepperdine, UNLV got in the win column with 5-2 victories over Weber State and New Mexico State. A challenging schedule continued to punish the squad with three straight blowout losses to ranked opponents.

Then -- a spark. UNLV faced Harvard on a neutral court in Tempe, Ariz., and earned its first win over a ranked team in six tries, 5-2.

That flame was quickly extinguished, however, by a surprising 4-3 home loss to unranked Nevada, Reno on March 7. The defeat was only the second at the hands of the in-state rival in 12 all-time meetings and followed an 8-1 UNLV victory just a year earlier. The loss eventually caused UNLV to tumble into the very last spot in the 75-team ITA rankings but a 5-2 victory one week later at former Big West Conference rival UC Santa Barbara gave the Lady Rebels their first win over a regional opponent.

Back at the Fertitta Tennis Complex, Cory's Crew readied to host a five-match homestand that would include four ranked squads. UNLV almost upset No. 40 Ohio State but the Buckeyes took the decisive doubles point in a 4-3 final. After a whitewashing by top-ranked Stanford, the Lady Rebels opened conference play on a high note by crushing league-rival Utah 6-1.

Doubles play once again cost UNLV when No. 36 BYU nipped the hosts 4-3 despite Janus' come-from-behind upset of eventual MWC Player of the Year, 36th-ranked Jodi Richardson, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4. The so-close agony would continue on April 1 when the joke was on the Lady Rebels as they split singles and lost the doubles point to No. 66 San Diego State for their fourth 4-3 loss to a ranked opponent in their last five defeats.

Dropping to a season-worst five matches below .500 at 5-10, UNLV had suffered from not being able to win the close ones. Ranked 62nd largely from the strength of the Harvard win, the Lady Rebels were sitting 1-2 in MWC play and had just one home match remaining. Surprisingly, that is when the team began to jell. UNLV traveled to Fort Collins, Colo., and turned the tables on No. 75 Colorado State by winning the doubles point en route to a 4-3 victory. An easy win over Wyoming the next day made the trip to the Front Range a big success.

Senior Day 2001 brought eighth-ranked Fresno State to town but the hosts were not intimidated. In the final home match for Britta Gabl and Urska Radanovic, UNLV won the doubles point and two singles matches but fell one point short. The day included another Janus upset as she rallied past No. 33 Kim Niggemeyer 0-6, 6-2, 6-1.

UNLV's regular-season concluded with a two-match swing in San Diego to meet two league rivals on neutral ground. The Lady Rebels first grounded Air Force and then posted its biggest win of the year by upending No. 39 New Mexico in shockingly easy fashion, only losing one singles match in a 6-1 final. The strong finish, which included four straight league wins, earned UNLV the third seed at the second annual MWC championships staged at the Varsity Tennis Courts on the campus of CSU.

Facing the sixth-seeded hosts, UNLV lost a close doubles point and then was stunned as the Rams won three of five completed singles matches for the first-round upset. Dispatched to the losers' bracket, the Lady Rebels proved resilient enough to get by a determined Air Force squad 4-3. On the final day, UNLV played an entertaining rematch with Utah in the fight for fifth place and the Lady Rebels outlasted the Utes 4-3.

Winning six of its last eight dates improved UNLV's final record to 11-12, including a sparkling 7-3 league record that made the program a combined 12-6 in two seasons as part of the two-year-old conference.

"The CSU loss was disappointing," Cory said. "It really could have gone either way. They just outplayed us, which was hard for us to accept. But we bounced back and got good wins to finish out the season."

Janus, who mowed down league competition en route to an 8-1 MWC record, earned all-conference honors in singles and doubles while partner Abram was named MWC Freshman of the Year.

Janus' late surge, which included winning 10 of her last 11, earned her a ticket to the NCAA Championships in Stone Mountain, Ga. However, the fourth woman ever to represent UNLV in the singles event went down in the first round and finished with a final ranking of 68.

"Paulina's at-large invitation was a pleasant surprise," Cory said. "She had significant wins but you never know when it comes down to a selection committee. Fortunately, this time it came in our favor. She lost to a tough player in the first round but the fact that she got there showed that she was one of the elite players in college tennis."

As for the team, after a roller-coaster season of restrained expectations, surprising losing streaks and equally surprising wins or near-wins, the Lady Rebels finished, fittingly, right where they began - as the nation's No. 55 tennis squad.

"This was a hard-working team that probably played a little bit above its ability," the head coach said. "We stayed consistent in the national rankings all year and earlier in the season I wouldn't have believed we could finish third in the league so it was satisfying to finish on a strong note."