April 28, 2004

LAS VEGAS - The 54th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team will look to grab its third Mountain West Conference tournament title in five years as the league's annual postseason event begins Thursday in San Diego.

After turning in a 5-2 league mark this spring, UNLV (15-6 overall) is seeded third and will face six-seeded Wyoming (10-10 and 1-6) in Thursday's first round, which begins at 9 a.m. UNLV, which has never lost to Wyoming in MWC play, defeated the Cowgirls 6-1 on April 9 in a neutral-site match played in San Diego.

The Lady Rebels are a shiny 9-2 all-time in Mountain West tournament play while head coach Kevin Cory boasts a 33-11 record vs. MWC opponents in his five years at the school. UNLV won the tournament crown in both 2000 and 2002 as well as taking home the regular-season championship a year ago.

In other action at the Barnes Tennis Center, top-seeded New Mexico will face Air Force, BYU will take on Utah and host San Diego State faces Colorado State. The winners of Thursday's matches will move on to the semifinals while the loser will drop into consolation play, all scheduled for Friday. The championship is Saturday. The winner receives an automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Tennis Championships.

2004 MWC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDINGSAt Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego, CAApril 29-May 1
Women'sSD  TEAM (MWC RECORD)1.  New Mexico (7-0)2.  BYU (6-1)3.  UNLV (5-2)4.  San Diego State (4-3)5.  Colorado State (3-4)6.  Wyoming (1-67.  Utah (1-6)8.  Air Force (1-6)