March 22, 2002

LAS VEGAS - The 17th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team took a 3-1 lead and held on for a 4-3 victory over 31st-ranked BYU at the Fertitta Tennis Complex Friday.

The Lady Rebels, who opened Mountain West Conference play, improved to 11-2 on the year, including 10-1 at home. The defending league champions Cougars fell to 6-10 and 1-1 in the MWC. UNLV, which is 7-2 against ranked teams in 2002, began the day by losing all three doubles matches to fall behind 1-0.

In singles play, the Lady Rebels stormed back to win the first three completed matches. At the top spot, 71st-ranked Paulina Janus cruised by Rebecca Pike 6-1, 6-1, while 88th-ranked Gyorgyi Zsiros swept Lindsay Ferrell 7-5, 6-1, at No. 2 and Tracie Chong came back to down Brooke Beverly 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 on the fourth court.

Lu Oswald then scored BYU's second point with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Agnieszka Abram at No. 3. Amy Hadziosmanovic, however, clinched the team win with a furious comeback over Liza Khoudoiarova 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Dominique Reynolds finally closed out Marianne Bakken at No. 5, 7-6, 7-5, for the visitors' final point.

"This was an incredible day for us," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "BYU has an outstanding team and for us to come back (after losing doubles) and beat them in a tense situation says a lot about the character of this program. Amy Hadziosmanovic had not played a match since February 3 but came out and showed up strong when the pressure was on."

The Lady Rebels continue their MWC schedule by hosting unranked Utah Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. BYU will face No. 39 San Diego State, also at Fertitta, at the same time.

UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS
(#17) UNLV 4, (#31) BRIGHAM YOUNG 3
At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas
SINGLES-(UNLV EARNS FOUR TEAM POINTS)1. (71) Paulina Janus (UNLV) def. Rebecca Pike (BYU)        6-1, 6-12. (88) Gyorgyi Zsiros (UNLV) def. Lindsay Ferrell (BYU)   7-5, 6-13. Lu Oswald (BYU) def. Agnieszka Abram (UNLV)            7-5, 6-44. Tracie Chong (UNLV) def. Brooke Beverly (BYU)     3-6, 6-1, 6-05. Dominique Reynolds (BYU) def. Marianne Bakken (UNLV)       7-6, 7-56. Amy Hadziosmanovic (UNLV) def. Liza Khoudoiarova (BYU)  0-6, 6-3, 6-3
DOUBLES-(BYU EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. (32) Beverly/Reynolds (BYU) def. Janus/Abram (UNLV)      8-62. Ferrell/Oswald (BYU) def. Bakken/Zsiros (UNLV)       8-63. Khoudoiarova/Pike (BYU) def. Chong/Leentjie Oosthuizen (UNLV)7-7 retired