Oct. 23, 2004

LAS VEGAS - UNLV's fabulous freshman Elena Gantcheva won two more times Saturday to advance to the semifinals of the 2004 Wilson/ITA Women's Tennis West Regional.

Gantcheva, seeded eighth, improved to 14-0 in her young career. She first dispatched Loyola Marymount's Serena Fermin 6-1, 6-3, and then upset UCLA's second-seeded and 10th-ranked Daniela Bercek 7-5, 1-6, 6-1. Gantcheva will face USC's Lindsey Nelson on Sunday. The championship match is set for Monday.

"Elena took another step today by beating a top-10 opponent," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "She showed a lot of courage in the third set, which sets up for a big match on Sunday."

All of UNLV's other entries were eliminated. In singles, Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis was ousted 6-0, 6-1 by Riza Zalameda of UCLA. Gyorgyi Zsiros lost in the Consolation Draw to Sarah Gregg of UCLA 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. The Rebels also lost both of their doubles entries in the Round of 16.