April 11, 2004

Albuquerque, NM - The 70th-ranked UNLV men's tennis team finished 3-1 in Mountain West Conference play after a neutral-site 4-2 victory over Air Force at the UNM Tennis Club on Easter Sunday.

The Rebels moved to 12-6 overall while the Falcons fell to 12-11 and 0-3 in the league.

With both teams playing without their highly ranked singles stars, UNLV showed impressive depth with four straight-set victories. Starting the morning with singles play, the Rebels got wins from Romain Massaro at No. 2, Joel Kielbowicz at No. 3, David DiMartino at No. 4 and Marko Blagojevic on Court Six.

With the match decided, doubles play was canceled.

"This was a great team effort considering we were playing at a high altitude and indoors, which we are not accustomed to," UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook said. "I'm proud of the way everyone fought hard and came together to get the victory."

UNLV, which improved its regular-season win total by a stunning 10 matches over 2003, now prepares for the MWC Championship tournament on April 29-May 1 in San Diego.

UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#70 UNLV 4, AIR FORCE 2At UNM Tennis Club, Albuquerque, NM
DOUBLES: NOT PLAYED
SINGLES: (UNLV WINS FOUR TEAM POINTS)1. Trevor Johnson (AFA) def. #124 Aviram Salomon (UNLV) 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7)2. Romain Massaro (UNLV) def. Tyler McClung (AFA) 6-4, 6-33. Joel Kielbowicz (UNLV) def. Chris Dong (AFA) 6-1, 6-44. David DiMartino Jr. (UNLV) def. Justin Lau (AFA) 6-1, 6-35. Sky Jensen (AFA) def. Sean Margulis (UNLV) 6-4, 7-56. Marko Blagojevic (UNLV) def. Robbie Alexander (AFA) 6-1, 6-2