May 20, 2005

LAS VEGAS - UNLV women's tennis star freshman Elena Gantcheva has withdrawn from the NCAA Singles Championship because of a lingering injury.

Gantcheva, the 2005 Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year and first team all-league honoree, had earned one of 32 at-large bids to the event that will take place May 23-28 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.

The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, closes the season with a 31-7 singles record overall, which gives her the second-best single-season winning percentage in program history at .816.

Gantcheva, who is currently ranked 34th in the nation, was the first UNLV women's player to earn a NCAA bid since Paulina Janus in 2001.