Oct. 8, 2004

LAS VEGAS - It turns out that the only one who could stop UNLV freshman star Elena Gantcheva this week was herself.

The Bulgarian rookie was forced to withdraw because of injury from Friday's Round of 16 at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Classic at Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Set to play fourth-ranked Julie Coins of Clemson, Gantcheva was suffering from severe crampimg and exhaustion caused by playing eight matches in only six days and tournament doctors advised her not to continue. While Coins advances to the quarterfinals by way of injury default, it will not count against Gantcheva's record.

"Elena can hardly walk so we are headed home to Las Vegas," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "This has been an incredible week for both Elena and the UNLV tennis program. She has already served notice to the country after playing in just two tournaments. We knew coming in that she had great potential but until a recruit actually gets tested in a tournament like this, you don't know for sure. We had an outstanding recruting year and now we look to move up the national rankings and compete for the Mountain West championship."

Gantcheva, who defeated five ranked players this week en route to moving to 10-0, will next be in action at the ITA Regional Championships in San Diego on Oct. 22-25.