April 29, 2002

LAS VEGAS - UNLV's Mountain West Conference women's tennis championship squad won two of the three major annual awards, which were announced by the league.

Lady Rebel rookie Gyorgyi Zsiros became the school's second consecutive MWC Freshman of the Year winner after posting a 28-7 overall record, including a stunning 20-1 mark in dual matches this spring with her only loss coming in three sets at Stanford to the nation's 11th-ranked player. Zsiros, a native of Budapest, Hungary, is currently ranked 94th and is riding a 17-match winning streak, which is just two off the school record. Teammate Agnieszka Abram won the award last season.

Kevin Cory won his second MWC Coach of the Year Award in three years after leading the team to the greatest season in school history. UNLV, which boasts a 20-3 record, has been ranked in the top 20 a school-record six consecutive weeks and won its second league title over the weekend.

Runner-up San Diego State supplied the MWC Player of the Year in the form of junior Silvia Tornier.

A program-record three Lady Rebels earned All-MWC honors, which were the most among the eight schools. Junior Paulina Janus was a repeat honoree in both singles and doubles. Ranked 91st, the native of Warsaw, Poland, is 20-11 on the year, including a 14-7 mark at No. 1 singles.

Joining her on both teams was Abram, a sophomore also from Warsaw. She currently sports an 18-15 record, including a sparkling 15-6 mark at No. 3 singles. As a doubles team, Janus and Abram are 16-14, including 11-11 at the top spot in the lineup. Zsiros also was tabbed to the All-MWC singles team.

UNLV, which won an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, will find out where it will play its regional when the full field is announced Thursday.

2002 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TENNIS AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Silvia Tornier      SDSUFRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:   Gyorgyi Zsiros         UNLVCOACH OF THE YEAR:  Kevin Cory     UNLV
ALL-MWC SINGLESBrooke Parsons*     Air ForceLu Oswald*      BYUDominique Reynolds* BYUSanja Hansson       CSUSandy Lukowski      UNMTjasa Suvak     UNMLindsey Hedberg*    SDSUSilvia Tornier*     SDSUAgnieszka Abram*    UNLVPaulina Janus*      UNLVGyorgyi Zsiros     UNLVJenny Bowman*       Wyoming
ALL-MWC DOUBLESBrooke Parsons/Laura Nigro    Air ForceBrooke Beverly/Dominique Reynolds BYUSandy Lukowski/Tiffany Robertson  UNMKatja Karrento/Katalina Romero    SDSUSilvia Tornier/Indra Erichsen     SDSUPaulina Janus/Agnieszka Abram*    UNLV
*Repeat honoree