April 7, 2002
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 16th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team stormed out to a 4-0 lead and held on for a 4-3 neutral-site victory over No. 50 New Mexico to close its regular season Sunday at the Academy Tennis Courts.
The Lady Rebels won their fourth straight to improve to 17-3 overall and 6-1 in the league, with the only blemish being a 4-3 loss to San Diego State on March 28. UNLV improved its mark vs. ranked teams this spring to 9-3 and its overall record equals the 1992 squad for best mark in school history after 20 events.
UNLV opened the day by winning two of three doubles matches for one team point. Marianne Bakken and Gyorgyi Zsiros combined for an easy 8-2 victory at No. 2 to raise their record to 21-8 while Tracie Chong and Amy Hadziosmanovic prevailed 8-5 at No. 3.
In singles play, UNLV quickly compiled three wins in straight sets. No. 84 Paulina Janus got by Tjasa Suvak 6-4, 6-3 at the top spot, No. 92 Zsiros won 6-4, 6-4 over Sandy Lukowski at No. 2 and Agnieszka Abram clinched the team victory, 6-2, 7-5, over Michelle Heidbrink at No. 3. Zsiros' victory raised her record to 26-7, which tied for the 10th-most single-season wins in school history and the third most ever by a Lady Rebel freshman.
The Lobos, who fell to 10-9 and 3-2, picked up wins at No. 5 and 6. Then, with the match decided, Chong played a super-tiebreaker with Tiffany Robertson at No. 4 and saw her 10-match winning streak snapped 1-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-6).
"New Mexico has a very good team so it feels good to get through this weekend with wins," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said after improving the school's all-time record vs. UNM to 5-4. "This team is beat up right now so we are looking forward to some time off in anticipation of doing our best at the Mountain West tournament."
Having defeated Air Force Sunday, SDSU finished 7-0 in MWC play, which meant UNLV will take second place in the regular season and receive the No. 2 seed for the league tournament to be held April 25-27 in Provo, Utah. The Lady Rebels will look to win their second league tournament title in three years, which brings with it an automatic bid to the NCAA championships.
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS
(#16) UNLV 4, (#50) NEW MEXICO 3
At Academy Tennis Courts, Colorado Springs
SINGLES-(UNLV EARNS THREE TEAM POINTS)1. (84) Paulina Janus (UNLV) def. Tjasa Suvak (UNM) 6-4, 6-32. (92) Gyogyi Zsiros (UNLV) def. Sandy Lukowski (UNM) 6-4, 6-43. Agnieszka Abram (UNLV) def. Michelle Heidbrink (UNM) 6-2, 7-54. Tiffany Robertson (UNM) def. Tracie Chong (UNLV) 1-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-6)5. Rachel Hatley (UNM) def. Marianne Bakken (UNLV) 6-1, 6-06. Courtney Choate (UNM) def. Amy Hadziosmanovic (UNLV) 6-3, 6-4
DOUBLES-(UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Robertson/Lukowkski (UNM) def. Janus/Abram (UNLV) 8-62. Bakken/Zsiros (UNLV) def. Suvak/Hatley (UNM) 8-23. Chong/Hadziosmanovic (UNLV) def. Choate/Heidbrink (UNM) 8-5
