April 15, 2005

PROVO, Utah - The 40th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team whitewashed Utah 7-0 on Friday to move into position to play for a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season championship.

The Lady Rebels improved to 12-6 overall and 5-1 in the league while the Utes fell to 13-10 and 3-3.

The neutral-site match, which was staged at the BYU Outdoor Courts, began with UNLV taking all three doubles matches for one team point. Winning duos were Elena Gantcheva and Sharon Marin at No. 1, Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis and Linda Tempelfelde on court two and 60th-ranked Gyorgyi Zsiros and Claire Smith on No. 3.

The Lady Rebels also did not lose a set in singles play.

At the top spot, 28th-ranked Gantcheva improved to 13-3 in dual matches with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Liz Ferris. Gantcheva's 29-5 overall slate put her into a tie for ninth place on UNLV's single-season victories list. At No. 2, Zsiros' 6-4, 6-4 win over Emily Kwok placed the senior just one shy of fourth place at the school with 77 career singles victories.

Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis breezed by Whitney Eber at No. 3, 6-2, 6-0 to pick up her sixth straight win and improve to 19-8.

Also, Sharon Marin downed Cheyenne Reveche 7-6, 6-3 at No. 4, Cindy Treber stayed hot with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Allison Hansen at No. 5 and Claire Smith quickly downed Cindy Saucedo 6-3, 6-1 on court six.

"We played solid tennis today against an improving program," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "We are now right where we wanted to be -- playing BYU for the Mountain West regular-season championship."

UNLV will close its regular season on Saturday by taking on the 28th-ranked Cougars at 9 a.m. PDT. BYU stands 6-0 in league play but a Lady Rebel upset would give them their second MWC regular-season co-title to go with two league tournament crowns.

UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#40 UNLV 7, UTAH 0At BYU Outdoor Courts, Provo, UT
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Gantcheva/Marin (UNLV) def. Ferris/Hansen (UU) 8-32. Ortiz-Luis/Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Eber/Kwok (UU) 9-83. #60 Smith/Zsiros (UNLV) def. Saucedo/Reveche (UU) 8-5
SINGLES: (UNLV EARNS SIX TEAM POINTS)1. #28 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. Liz Ferris (UU) 6-3, 6-42. Gyorgyi Zsiros (UNLV) def. Emily Kwok (UU) 6-4, 6-43. Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis (UNLV) def. Whitney Eber (UU) 6-2, 6-04. Sharon Marin (UNLV) def. Cheyenne Reveche (UU) 7-6 6-35. Cindy Treber (UNLV) def. Allison Hansen (UU) 6-2, 6-46. Claire Smith (UNLV) def. Cindy Saucedo (UU) 6-3, 6-1