Coming off a dismal 2-14 overall record, new UNLV men's tennis head coach Owen Hambrook wasn't sure what to expect of his 2004 Rebels.

Moving down the hall after an award-winning stint as assistant coach for the thrice champion women's squad, Hambrook inherited a rag-tag roster that had set school records for futility. However, he soon determined that UNLV was not devoid of talent -- just effectiveness.

"The biggest thing standing in the way of these players was lack of confidence," Hambrook said. "The only way to overcome that is by becoming better tennis players. We worked on that every day and it showed during the season. We didn't know what we had so we didn't expect much at the beginning of the year."

After a surprisingly upbeat fall tournament season, which included a sparkling 8-1 mark by sophomore Romain Massaro, the new era of Rebel Tennis began in early February in the Big Easy. Turned out the two-match swing to Louisiana was anything but easy as difficult playing conditions, including below-average local temperatures, hindered UNLV during the 0-2 effort. However, the opening match vs. No. 26 Tulane produced the biggest individual win by a Rebel in two years as junior Henner Nehles rallied after dropping the first set to stun the nation's No. 8-ranked Michael Kogan, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-4). Along with improving Nehles to 5-2 overall in singles, it marked the highest-ranked opponent to be defeated by a Rebel since former All-American Thomas Schneiter took down No. 1 Al Garland of Pepperdine on April 6, 2002. The win was a positive sign for Nehles, who would win his second career MWC Player of the Week Award, and eventually became even more impressive considering Kogan ended the season as the NCAA Singles Championship runner-up.

The following day brought a tough, 4-3 loss in the wind to No. 75 New Orleans after the Privateers won the all-important doubles point. The rookie coach would not have to wait much longer for his first career victory, however, as the Rebels started a nine-match homestand -- and its annual spring invitational -- by whitewashing Nevada, Reno 7-0 on Feb. 13. "It feels good to play at home and get that first win," Hambrook said. "Plus, it's always satisfying to beat your in-state rival."

After a 6-1 loss to No. 74 Oklahoma in the semifinals, UNLV took third place at its own event with a thrilling 4-3 final over New Mexico State that was clinched by steel-tough junior Aviram Salomon shaking off a leg injury to tough out a three-setter at No. 2, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. "That could have been my favorite win of the year. If you took a vote of our players of who they'd have a match come down to, they'd pick Avi. He is so tough under pressure."

After a two-week layoff, UNLV did not lose a set en route to shutting out UC Riverside 7-0 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex. The win, while seemingly routine, was a milestone because it evened the Rebels' record at 3-3, which already surpassed the previous season's win total.

Nehles, now ranked 55th, showed some moxie after falling behind quickly vs. Boston College. The German rallied back to win in three sets to make it a perfect 7-0 final vs. the Eagles. After dusting off Illinois State by the same score, a season-long four-match winning streak was halted by No. 33-ranked Oklahoma State after the Rebels lost all three three-set matches.

With Nehles being upset at the No. 1 spot, UNLV had to rely on the bottom half of its lineup to rally past visiting Southern Mississippi to begin another modest winning streak. Joel Kielbowicz, David DiMartino and Marko Blagojevic all won on the far courts to make it a 4-3 final.

For Kielbowicz, the season would be one of personal redemption. After limping to a 4-12 first-year record under the previous coach, the Las Vegas native solidified the middle of the lineup in '04 and would go on to forge a 13-6 mark at spots 3-5. Said Hambrook: "Joel made a commitment to be the best that he could be and it showed up in the results."

After a 5-2 win over Idaho State, UNLV hit the road again for the Boise State Invitational at the end of March. A win over Cal Poly preceded a 6-1 thumping at the hands of the 40th-ranked host Broncos. However, the Rebels went home happy after closing with a 4-2 upset win over a traditionally tough indoor team -- No. 64 Cornell -- for the school's first win over a ranked opponent in two years.

Returning home to begin Mountain West Conference play, April showers rained out a match with BYU. After finally getting on the board with a 6-0 downing of Utah, UNLV used Senior Day on April 4 to put on the match of the year. Nehles won a showdown at the top position to earn the UNLV men's tennis team its biggest victory in two years, 4-3 over 64th-ranked San Diego State. After honoring their two seniors before the match, UNLV closed the year 9-2 at home for their best record in Las Vegas since posting a 10-1 mark in 1997. UNLV took a 1-0 lead after winning the doubles point by taking two of three matches. Needing to win four of six singles matches, SDSU won the first set on all but two courts and eventually raced to a 3-1 lead by winning at spots 3-5. However, Salomon finished off Ryan Redondo at the second position, 6-2, 6-3, to give the junior his 11th straight singles win. Down on Court Six, Blagojevic shook off a tiebreaker loss in the first-set to down Mike Coehlo 6-7, 6-1, 6-2.

Tied at three apiece, the match would come down to Court One in a duel between two nationally ranked players. No. 77 Nehles eked out the first set over No. 63 Felix Hardt 7-6 before dropping the second frame 6-3. The Rebel leader responded in the deciding set to take a 3-0 lead and was three points from winning when Hardt retired because of cramping to end it at 7-6, 3-6, 5-1. UNLV, which had won six of its last seven and 10 of its last 12, picked up its most important league win since upsetting then-30th-ranked SDSU on March 31, 2002.

"I couldn't be more proud of this team," said Hambrook. "With our backs against the wall, we responded against an outstanding San Diego State team. This showed how much the team improved during the course of the season. This was a totally different team from the one that competed down in New Orleans in February."

With the win, the Rebels sat all alone in first place in the MWC at 2-0 and returned to the national rankings for the first time in 15 months at No. 70. There was more good news for the men's program as No. 1 singles player Nehles moved up three spots to 74th with an overall record of 16-6 while Salomon joined the rankings for the first time in his career by taking the final spot at 125. It marked the first time two Rebels were ranked during the same week since April 15, 1997, when eventual NCAA champion Luke Smith was 59th and teammate Asaf Tishler rated 98th.

Then came the bad news. Off the courts, Nehles suffered a broken right hand, which essentially ended UNLV's shot at a league title. In fact, what would have been a showdown for the regular-season crown at New Mexico instead turned into a 5-2 loss by the completely revamped Rebel lineup. However, playing indoors and at high altitude UNLV closed its regular season by earning one more victory with a 4-2 Easter Day final at Air Force.

Heading into the MWC tournament on SDSU's home courts April 30, UNLV enjoyed a first-round bye before drawing the homestanding Aztecs for a rematch. Still-hurting Nehles tried to go but was well below 100 percent. He lost to Hardt in straight sets this time and the Rebels lost 4-2 to end the season. However, the Rebels' final record of 12-7 boasted a 10-match improvement over 2003. "We exceeded anyone's expectations," said the rookie head coach. "It was satisfying to see the guys come together as a team and improve dramatically from one year to the next."

Nehles (16-7) and Salomon (16-8) repeated as All-MWC honorees and Nehles became the seventh UNLV men's player in history to earn a spot in the NCAA Singles Championship. He had to withdraw from the trip to Tulsa, however, because of the slow-healing hand. "Henner had an unbelievable year," Hambrook said. "He was an NCAA qualifier and moved up the national rankings. He took his place in the long line of top No. 1 players at UNLV over the years."

Despite the team finishing just out of the rankings, the school claimed two ranked singles players at the end of a season for the first time in program history (Nehles at 86 and Salomon at 118).

Hambrook said his first year only made him more excited about the future. "Looking back, it was a successful year overall but without a key injury at the end, there's no reason we couldn't have won the conference and advanced to the NCAA."