Oct. 21, 2005

SAN DIEGO - UNLV sophomore Elena Gantcheva won two more times on Friday to advance to the singles quarterfinals of the 2005 Wilson/ITA Women's Tennis West Regional Championships at the Barnes Tennis Center on the campus of San Diego State.

Gantcheva, seeded second and ranked 24th nationally, downed Esther Cadua of host San Diego State 6-4, 6-2, and then got by 124th-ranked Michelle Greunig of UC Santa Barbara 7-5, 6-1. The sophomore from Sofia, Bulgaria, improved her fall record to 12-2, with nine of those victories coming against ranked opponents.

Gantcheva also moved on in doubles play as she and partner Sharon Marin won their second-round match over Heidi Kaloi and Jessica Broadfoat of UC Irvine 8-3. Saturday's action will begin with two rounds of doubles followed by the singles quarterfinals. The tournament runs through Monday.

Senior Cindy Treber, who was the other remaining Lady Rebel in the main draw of singles, lost her first match Friday to Judy DeVera of USC 6-2, 6-1. However, three of the four UNLV entries in consolation play remain alive. Claire Smith won twice and Linda Tempelfelde and Mery Contstanti both won in the second round to advance.

"Playing in one of the toughest regions in the country, this tournament is the highlight of our fall season so it was nice to rebound today after a rough beginning," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "Now we face a big day tomorrow in both singles and doubles."

No less than 17 Wilson/ITA Regional Championships for NCAA Division I men and women are taking place over the last two weekends of October at campuses throughout the country. The singles finalists and doubles champion from this event will earn spots in the November 3-6 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships hosted by The Ohio State University at the Racquet Club of Columbus.

2005 WILSON/ITA WEST REGION WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPSBarnes Tennis Center, San Diego
SINGLES ROUND OF 32(2) No. 24 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. Esther Cadua (SDSU) 6-4, 6-2(16) Judy DeVera (USC) def. Cindy Treber (UNLV) 6-2, 6-1
SINGLES ROUND OF 16(2) No. 24 Gantcheva (UNLV) def. No. 124 Michelle Greunig (UCSB) 7-5, 6-1
SINGLES CONSOLATION FIRST ROUNDClaire Smith (UNLV) def. Sonya Kumar (CS Northridge) 6-3, 6-1
SINGLES CONSOLATION SECOND ROUNDSmith (UNLV) def. Mai-Ly Tran (CS Fullerton) 6-2, 6-3Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Chloe Bihag (Hawaii) 6-2, 6-2Mery Constanti (UNLV) def. Ashley Ellis (USC) 6-2, 6-3Gina Le (CS Fullerton) def. Sharon Marin (UNLV) 7-6, 7-6
DOUBLES ROUND OF 32(3) No. 36 Gantcheva/Marin (UNLV) def. Heidi Kaloi/Jessica Broadfoat (UCI) 8-3Robyn Baker/Serena Fermin (LMU) def. Treber/Constanti (UNLV) 9-7