April 16, 2005

PROVO, Utah - It was a showdown that was more down than show for the UNLV women's tennis team.

The 40th-ranked Lady Rebels were denied a Mountain West Conference Co-Championship as 28th-ranked BYU easily beat the Lady Rebels 6-1 Saturday to win the league outright.

UNLV closed its regular season 12-7 and 5-2 in the MWC while the Cougars improved to 18-3 overall, 12-1 at home and a perfect 7-0 in the conference.

BYU began the morning by sweeping three doubles matches for one team point.

In singles play, the hosts won four straight-setters to clinch the victory.

That left matches at the top and bottom of the lineup to be decided by super-tiebreaker, both of which went overtime.

On court one, 28th-ranked Elena Gantcheva was stunned by Lauren Jones, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (12-10) to drop the freshman's record to 29-6 after what the first loss this season to a player not currently in the national rankings.

UNLV fared better at the bottom as Claire Smith outlasted Dolly Chang 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9) to pick up her team's only point.

Both teams now await the MWC Championship, which will be held April 28-30 in San Diego. The winner of that tournament receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA championships.

UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#28 BYU 6, #40 UNLV 1At BYU Outdoor Courts, Provo, Utah
DOUBLES: (BYU EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Sourkova/Miccoli (BYU) def. Gantcheva/Marin (UNLV) 8-22. Jones/Chang (BYU) def. Ortiz-Luis/Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) 8-23. Boulytcheva/Holden (BYU) def. #60 Zsiros/Smith (UNLV) 9-7
SINGLES: (BYU EARNS FIVE TEAM POINTS)1. Lauren Jones (BYU) def. #28 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (12-10)2. #104 Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Gyorgyi Zsiros (UNLV) 6-3, 6-23. #116 Anastasia Sourkova (BYU) def. Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis (UNLV) 6-0, 6-44. Sofia Holden (BYU) def. Sharon Marin (UNLV) 7-5, 6-25. Jennifer Miccoli (BYU) def. Cindy Treber (UNLV) 6-0, 6-36. Claire Smith (UNLV) def. Dolly Chang (BYU) 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9)