April 16, 2005

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 51st-ranked UNLV men's tennis team evened its Mountain West Conference record at 2-2 with a 5-2 victory over Air Force at the Academy's outdoor courts on Saturday.

The Rebels improved to 15-6 overall while the Falcons dropped to 15-8 and 0-4.

UNLV began the morning by winning all three doubles matches for one team point. Scoring for the visitors were the duos of Joel Kielbowicz and David Campbell at No. 1, Henner Nehles and Jonathan Hooper at No. 2 and Aviram Salomon and Martin Redelinghuys on court three.

In singles, an anticipated duel between the league's top two singles players never happened because Air Force senior Shannon Buck, ranked 58th, did not compete so that he could take his medical boards. Instead, 63rd-ranked Rebel leader Nehles stayed perfect in MWC play with an easy 6-2, 6-3 win over Tyler McClung to improve his senior singles record to 25-8 overall.

Kielbowicz picked up his 20th victory of the season at the No. 3 position, 6-4, 6-1 over Chris Dong, while Romain Massaro eased by Robby Alexander on court five, 6-2, 6-1, and Redelinghuys routed Ryan White 6-0, 6-2 at No. 6.

"It was nice to get this match out of the way and earn the victory," UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook said. "It's always tough conditions up here with the altitude. Now we are looking forward to facing a tough New Mexico team with a chance to keep some momentum going into the postseason tournament."

The Rebels will close out their regular season on Sunday vs. the 60th-ranked Lobos in a match also to be played at the Academy.

UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#51 UNLV 5, AIR FORCE 2At USAF Tennis Courts, Colorado Springs
DOUBLES -- (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Kielbowicz/Campbell (UNLV) def. Dong/Johnson (AFA) 8-22. Nehles/Jonathan Hooper (UNLV) def. McClung/Alexander (AFA) 8-63. Salomon/Redelinghuys (UNLV) def. Lau/Keith Cronican (AFA) 8-4
SINGLES -- (UNLV EARNS FOUR TEAM POINTS)1. Henner Nehles (UNLV) def. Tyler McClung (AFA) 6-2, 6-32. Trevor Johnson (AFA) def. Aviram Salomon (UNLV) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9)3. Joel Kielbowicz (UNLV) def. Chris Dong (AFA) 6-4, 6-14. Justin Lau (AFA) def. David Campbell (UNLV) 7-5, 7-55. Romain Massaro (UNLV) def. Robby Alexander (AFA) 6-2, 6-16. Martin Redelinghuys (UNLV) def. Ryan White (AFA) 6-0, 6-2