May 2, 2002
LAS VEGAS - The 18th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team will travel to Los Angeles for the first and second rounds of the 2002 NCAA Division I Championship, the school learned Thursday.
The Lady Rebels (20-3) earned an automatic bid to their third team tournament and first since 1998 by winning the Mountain West Conference title last Saturday.
UNLV will face 39th-ranked Oregon (13-10) in the first round on Saturday, May 11. The winner of that match will face the winner of Mid-Continent Conference champion Oral Roberts (11-9) vs. 11th-ranked and 10th-seeded host Southern California (17-7) on May 12. All three matches will take place at Marks Tennis Stadium on campus with times to be determined.
The winners of the 16 four-team regionals across the nation will gather for the Round of 16 on the campus of Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., on May 16-19.
"We were hoping to host a regional but our goal all along has been to be an NCAA team," third-year UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "We are a year ahead of my expectations with this squad being in the top 20 but going to play a regional at USC is going to be a tremendous challenge."
However, Cory, who ironically played his college tennis for the Ducks, said it would be impossible to look past the first round toward a date vs. the powerful Lady of Troy.
"Oregon is a quality team that will be a tough opponent. They just upset No. 23 Washington so we realize we'll have to be ready. I know that both teams will come out battling."
The two programs have met just twice with UNLV winning both matches. The most recent meeting saw an unranked Lady Rebel squad upset the 42nd-ranked Ducks in Las Vegas, 6-3, on March 22, 2000, in Cory's first season.
Joining UNLV from the MWC in the NCAA field will be 26th-ranked San Diego State, which travels to Tempe, Ariz., and 45th-ranked BYU, which heads to Berkeley, Calif.
No Lady Rebel earned a spot in the NCAA singles or doubles individual tournaments.
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS ALL-TIME NCAA TEAM RESULTS2002At Los Angeles, CAMay 11-12
1998At Las VegasDefeated Washington State 5-1Lost to Pepperdine 5-2
1997At San Diego, CALost to San Diego 5-2
