There was classic Good News-Bad News for head coach Kevin Cory heading into the 2003 dual-match season.

The Good: The Lady Rebels amassed enough talent, combined with hard-earned national respect, to earn a school-record preseason ranking of 17.

The Bad: UNLV's starting lineup suffered a severe blow when up-and-coming sophomore Leentjie Oosthuizen decided not to return to school after spending the holiday break in her native South Africa.

The latter move not only necessitated a reshuffling of the expected lineup but also rendered the seven-woman squad's depth nearly non-existent.

The season started well with two shutouts over No. 72 New Mexico State and Weber State before wind knocked out an annual meeting with Nevada, Reno. Now up to a season-high No. 15, which was just one spot off the program record, the Lady Rebels faced their first real test of the season - and failed, falling hard at No. 23 Fresno State 6-1.

However, a seven-match homestand was the right tonic for what was ailing UNLV.

After not allowing a point vs. UC Riverside and San Jose State, the women hosted their second annual spring invitational on Feb. 28-March 2. Overcoming uncharacteristically rainy conditions UNLV breezed by Montana State and then earned its second ranked win with a 5-2 decision over No. 75 Cal State Northridge in the semifinals. The championship match provided a benchmark victory against No. 44 and previously undefeated Oklahoma in a hard-fought 4-2 final.

The following weekend brought two of the nation's finest teams to Fertitta in the form of Texas A&M and then Duke, which was making its first-ever visit to Las Vegas. Cory was hoping for at least a split and he got just that as No. 18 UNLV got by the 32nd-ranked Aggies 4-3.

A closer-than-it-looked 7-0 loss to the No. 6 Blue Devils, which included Lady Rebel duo Paulina Janus and Agnieszka Abram upsetting the nation's second-ranked doubles team, closed the homestand with UNLV ranked 18th at 8-2 overall.

The team's most impressive road work came on a trip to Southern California on March 20-22. Starting with a non-conference tilt vs. always-tough San Diego, UNLV won all three matches, including emerging from a 4-3 battle with New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference opener. However, a 6-1 victory over Air Force the next day brought an unexpected twist. The only UNLV blemish came at the second spot where Gyorgyi Zsiros lost for the first time ever in conference play and dropped to just 31-2 all-time in dual matches. The sophomore lost 7-5 in a third-set tiebreaker as an unlikely opponent, Heather Shelby, completed the stunner 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 to break Zsiros' 28-match winning streak in duals.

A whitewash at the hands of second-ranked Stanford on March 25 did not dampen the value of having the perennial power Cardinal come to town. "Anytime you get teams the caliber of Duke and Stanford to come to play you at your own facility, it is a tremendous benefit to the program," Cory said.

The final weekend of March brought a round-robin event with three other league teams and in this case the schedule didn't save the best for last as No. 32 San Diego State was first up in a now-annual showdown between the league's two best programs.

The Aztecs began the day by sweeping three doubles matches for one team point. In singles play, eventual league MVP Silvia Tornier overwhelmed Janus 6-2, 6-1 at the top spot to give SDSU a quick 2-0 lead. UNLV evened things with victories by Amy Hadziosmanovic at No. 6 and Cindy Treber at No. 5. Then, Zsiros came back from down a set to coast at No. 2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 to earn the Lady Rebels their first lead of the day. After SDSU won again, the match came down to No. 4 where UNLV sophomore Tracie Chong rallied to force a third set. After falling behind 3-2 in the deciding set, Chong won the final four games to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and make the hosts victorious, 4-3.

"This was a tremendous day," Cory said of UNLV's first regular-season win over the Aztecs since 1999. "We have a lot of respect for San Diego State tennis and this is a great rivalry between these two programs."

Successfully avoiding a letdown, the Lady Rebels dusted off Wyoming 7-0 and then Colorado State 5-2 to close out their 2003 home schedule with an 11-2 mark.

A weekend in The Wasatch Mountains would cap off the MWC slate. A 6-1 victory over Utah brought the Lady Rebels one win away from their first-ever perfect conference record. However, 56th-ranked BYU won convincingly 6-1. The loss dropped UNLV into a first-place tie with SDSU but still meant that the Lady Rebels had captured their first-ever regular-season title along with the Aztecs.

Ranked 28th and heading into a conference tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time since the WAC days in 1998, UNLV would be without its head coach as Cory stayed back in Las Vegas for the birth of his first child, son Spencer, on April 22.

UNLV's first-round matchup with Wyoming proved a breeze at 4-0 and set up a semifinal rematch with BYU. After the Cougars won the doubles point, the defending champs took the lead with two easy victories on top from Zsiros and Janus. BYU tied things with a win at No. 5 and made it 3-2 with a 7-6, 7-6 squeaker on the fourth court. The Lady Rebels, who battled injuries all season, were stung again when Hadziosmanovic sprained an ankle early in the third set and eventually fell 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and the remaining match was halted tied in the third set for a 4-2 final.

Cory's crew, which lost in the MWC tourney for only the second time (9-2), still earned it first at-large bid since 1998 and was seeded third in Seattle. Matched with higher-ranked Illinois, the Lady Rebels saw the Illini jump ahead after doubles. In singles play, UNLV had to win four of six matches to rally but only managed one victory as Chong swept her opponent at the No. 4 spot.

"It was a closer match than the score indicated," Cory said. "We fought hard in singles and at one point we were ahead on four courts and thought we could pull it out. However, hats off to a fine Illinois team that really finished well."

With Chong the only Lady Rebel to finish ranked (119), no UNLV woman qualified for the NCAA tournament for only the second time in nine seasons. However, Janus became only the second player in program history to be named first team all-league three times in a career, joining four-time honoree Marianne Vallin (1994-97). Another repeater on the team was Zsiros, who stood 48-17 after two seasons in college tennis. Rounding out the trio was Chong who easily led the squad in victories with a 26-10 season mark en route to reaching 50 career wins faster than all but two Lady Rebels all-time.

The program said goodbye to a trio of seniors. Former walk-on Jackie White was successful in the first significant action of her career while Hadziosmanovic closed with a tidy 15-5 dual-match record to graduate with more than 50 career wins. "Amy was the first player I signed at UNLV," said her head coach. "She was a hard worker and very dedicated -- a Rebel through and through."

Janus, meanwhile, finished 12th at the school with 55 career singles wins after peaking in the rankings at No. 41 as a junior. "Paulina had three strong years for us. We hoped for a more positive finish but she won a lot of matches and was certainly one of the top players in the conference every season."

Overall, Cory saw 2003 full of milestones despite some setbacks.

"Because of some obstacles thrown in our way, it was even more significant that we got the co-championship and No. 1 seed. Beating San Diego State was our best regular-season league win since I've been here and earning an at-large bid to the NCAAs showed we've earned the respect of people across the country."