March 26, 2002
LAS VEGAS - The 17th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team celebrated its annual senior day in style with a 5-2 win over No. 31 Auburn at the Fertitta Tennis Complex Tuesday.
The Lady Rebels, who are 8-2 against ranked teams this year, improved to 13-2 on the season overall, marking the best start in the history of the program, besting a 12-3 record in both 1994 and 1997. The Tigers fell to 11-4.
UNLV, which has won six straight matches after falling to No. 2 Wake Forest on March 3, completed its home schedule with a 12-1 record - the second-best showing in school history behind a 14-0 mark at Fertitta in 1995.
Doubles competition opened the rare weekday morning meeting. After UNLV and Auburn split the bottom two matches, the Lady Rebel duo of Paulina Janus and Agnieszka Abram upset 28th-ranked Katia Illarionova and Carolina Maurer, 9-7, at the top spot to give the home team the doubles point.
In singles play, UNLV quickly took a 3-0 lead with straight-set wins by 88th-ranked Gyorgyi Zsiros at No. 2 and Tracie Chong at No. 4.
The Tigers then clawed back into it with wins at the bottom of the lineup as Liz Sauerborn rallied over Marianne Bakken at No. 5 and Sara Suitor swept Amy Hadziosmanovic on the sixth court. Auburn also won the first set in both remaining matches but 71st-ranked Janus fought off two match points to come back and clinch the team victory with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Illarionova at No. 1. Abram then rallied to win in a tiebreaker at the third court over Petra Bercik, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, to close out the day.
"This was an exciting match and for us to win on senior day for Marianne Bakken makes it even more special," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "Zsiros and Chong continued their dominant play and really set the tone for the rest of the courts. Then, Abram and Janus both showed a lot of courage and really came through when the team needed them most."
The Lady Rebels, who finished their non-conference slate 12-2, travel to San Diego for three Mountain West matches this weekend, beginning with host San Diego State on Thursday beginning at 2 p.m.
"I believe San Diego State is the team to beat in our league," Cory said. "We have to be ready because it will be a very tough match."
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS
(#17) UNLV 5, (#32) AUBURN 2
At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas
SINGLES-(UNLV EARNS FOUR TEAM POINTS)1. (71) Paulina Janus (UNLV) def. Katia Illarionova (AU) 4-6, 6-3, 7-52. (88) Gyorgyi Zsiros (UNLV) def. (116) Carolina Ramirez (AU) 6-1, 6-23. Agnieszka Abram (UNLV) def. Petra Bercik (AU) 2-6, 6-3, 7-64. Tracie Chong (UNLV) def. Carolina Maurer (AU) 6-3, 6-15. Liz Sauerborn (AU) def. Marianne Bakken (UNLV) 0-6, 6-3, 6-46. Sarah Suitor (AU) def. Amy Hadziosmanovic (UNLV) 6-4, 6-4
DOUBLES-(UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Janus/Abram (UNLV) def. (28) Illarionova/Maurer (AU) 9-72. Bakken/Zsiros (UNLV) def. Ramirez/Bercik (AU) 8-33. Suitor/Sauerborn (AU) def. Chong/Hadziosmanovic (UNLV) 8-6
