Oct. 9, 2005

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - UNLV super sophomore Elena Gantcheva posted arguably the biggest tournament singles victory in the program's history Sunday to walk away as the Consolation Draw winner at the 2005 Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Tennis Championships.

Gantcheva, 9-2 this fall and ranked 24th nationally, shocked the top-ranked player in all of college tennis, Florida's Jennifer Magley, 6-0, 7-5, to become the first Lady Rebel to win either a main-draw or consolation-draw title at one of the sport's major tournaments. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, also became her program's first player to defeat a No. 1-ranked singles player (joining two UNLV men's players who accomplished the feat over the past decade).

"This is a proud moment in the history of UNLV tennis," head coach Kevin Cory said. "I rank this accomplishment right up there with our three conference championships and (former All-American) Katarina Malec's run to the Final Four of the 2000 NCAA Championships. This proves what I've said for two years: Elena Gantcheva has the ability to win a national championship for us.

"I must give a lot of credit to my assistant coach, Stephane Matheu-Cambas. He has had a tremendous impact on our program both on and off the court this week and during his career here."

Gantcheva improved to 13-2 overall in her two years at this elite event after impressively rallying from back-to-back losses earlier in the week to post four consecutive straight-set victories over higher-ranked players.

After turning in what was considered the best fall tournament season in school history when she went 14-1 as a freshman in 2004, Gantcheva already has two tournament titles to her name this season and has upped her career record vs. ranked opponents in tournament play to an eye-popping 15-3.

Next up for Gantcheva and her teammates is the ITA Regional Championships in San Diego starting October 20.

GANTCHEVA'S ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS RUN
QUALIFYING DRAWFirst Rd.No. 24 Elena Gantcheva def. No. 48 Elsa O'Riain (Harvard) 6-2, 6-3
Second Rd.Gantcheva def. No. 65 Stephanie Kusano (Cal) 6-4, 6-0Third Rd.No. 122 Zuzana Cerna (Baylor) def. Gantcheva (UNLV) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6*
*Advanced to Main Draw as highest-ranked alternate
MAIN DRAWFirst Rd.No. 21 Helena Besovic (TCU) def. Gantcheva (UNLV) 6-1, 7-6
CONSOLATION DRAW
First Rd.Gantcheva (UNLV) def. No. 17 Amanda Fish (Vanderbilt) 6-3, 6-2Second Rd.Gantcheva (UNLV) def. No. 23 Megan Moulton-Levy (William & Mary) 6-3, 7-6SemifinalsGantcheva (UNLV) def. No. 6 Shadisha Robinson (Georgia) 6-3, 6-2FinalGantcheva (UNLV) def. No. 1 Jennifer Magley (Florida) 6-0, 7-5