After a brief one-year absence, the UNLV women returned to the NCAA team championships in 2005 for the third time in four years and were powered by a pair of seniors and a fabulous freshman who may go down as the school's best ever by the time she's done in Las Vegas.

To be sure, the fall 2004 season was highlighted by the emergence of rookie Elena Gantcheva. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, simply turned in the best autumn tournament performance by any player in school history, winning her first 14 dual matches before falling in the semifinals of the ITA Regional. Gantcheva went from unranked in the preseason all the way to No. 21 in the spring after winning the qualifying round of the prestigious Riviera All-American Classic in September and going 6-0 vs. ranked opponents to start her career.

"Elena proved to be one of the elite recruits in the nation," sixth-year head coach Kevin Cory said. "She had by far the best fall of any player I have ever coached and proved she will be a threat to win a national championship during her career here."

Gantcheva's emergence to the top of the singles lineup only solidified a roster boasting two all-conference senior performers in the form of Gyorgyi Zsiros (who would finish with the fourth-most singles wins and third-most doubles victories in school history) and Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis (who would close her career averaging 22 wins a season).

Ranked only 46th when the season broke, the Lady Rebels would quickly resume their traditional posture of standing toe to toe with some of the best teams in the nation despite having to overcome some significant injuries throughout the spring.

With seven of the country's top-30 teams on the docket, stress over facing the toughest schedule in program history was at least lessened by the fact that all 14 non-conference matches would take place at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

Two rainouts delayed the start of the dual season before UNLV debuted with a 7-0 rout of Nevada, Reno. A quirk in the schedule then gave the team the better part of a month off to ready for the annual Lady Rebel Classic on Feb. 25-27. After a first-round shutout of Northern Arizona, UNLV faced a tough semifinal vs. 21st-ranked and defending champion Fresno State.

The Lady Rebels took the doubles point and then got wins from Claire Smith at No. 6 and then Gantcheva completing a big comeback at the top spot. However, with storm clouds looming, the Bulldogs then squared things by taking the match at No. 2, which put all eyes on court four where Ortiz-Luis looked to be sailing toward a straight-set win before her opponent forced a tiebreaker. After quickly falling behind 2-0 in the deciding set, Ortiz-Luis exploded to take six straight games and emerge from the marathon matchup, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 and give her team its biggest non-conference win in three years.

However, for the second straight season, UNLV was denied its own tourney title at the hands of powerful Tulane as the 15th-ranked Green Wave emerged with a 4-0 championship final the following day.

After a pair of shutouts, this time over Utah State and UC Riverside, UNLV, which jumped 18 spots to return to the national top 30 for the first time since 2003, welcomed No. 22 Notre Dame to town. In the closer-than-the-score-looked 5-2 Irish victory, UNLV won the battle at the top as Gantcheva closed out Las Vegas native and 39th-ranked Catrina Thompson 7-6, 6-1.

No. 57 Penn was next in town and after the Quakers swept a sluggish Lady Rebel doubles contingent for a 1-0 lead, the hosts regained their composure and won four singles matches in straight sets en route to the 5-2 final.

UNLV flipped the script one day later by stunning William & Mary in doubles play and taking a 1-0 lead. The seventh-ranked Tribe, however, rebounded nicely in singles as Smith scored her team's only other point in the 5-2 defeat. Gantcheva lost a dual singles match for the first time in her career to drop her overall record to 23-3. The parade of top teams continued a week later as No. 27 Indiana spent spring break in Las Vegas and went home with a 6-1 St. Patrick's Day drubbing that included another win by Gantcheva over a ranked opponent.

One day later, seventh-ranked Duke took both three-set singles matches to hold on for a 5-2 cold and windy win. The Lady Rebels, who were looking for their first-ever win over a top-10 opponent, began the afternoon by winning two of three doubles matches for one team point. Gantcheva and fellow-freshman Sharon Marin won at the top spot and Zsiros and Smith teamed up for a thrilling 9-7 win at No. 3 over 42nd-ranked Katie Blaszak and Saras Arasu.

Needing to split the six singles matches to post the upset, UNLV quickly fell behind 3-1. However, in the only match featuring ranked players, No. 29 Gantcheva finished off No. 35 Blaszak at the top spot, 6-4, 7-6 to keep her team alive. The remaining courts both split sets before Smith fell in a grueling 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 final.

The non-conference schedule ended on March 25 when top-ranked Stanford dominated in a 6-1 win that saw Linda Tempelfelde post UNLV's only point with a singles win at court six.

MWC play opened on March 26 with a 7-0 blanking of Air Force. One day later the Lady Rebels had an Easter Day showdown with New Mexico and the No. 48 Lobos would sweep doubles and then split singles for a 4-3 upset.

After a weekend off, a trip to the Front Range followed and the Lady Rebels' first road match became a 6-1 domination of Colorado State among frigid conditions. During a blizzard the following day, the team went indoors for the only time all season and UNLV blanked Wyoming 4-0.

Later that week, a neutral-site Tax Day whitewashing of Utah improved the squad to 3-0 on the road before a key regular-season wrapper at No. 28 BYU loomed on April 16. The showdown, however, was more down than show as the 40th-ranked Lady Rebels were denied a conference co-championship as the Cougars easily prevailed 6-1 to win the league outright.

Leading up to the conference tournament, Gantcheva was named the school's third MWC Freshman of the Year while Zsiros, who went 5-1 vs. league competition joined only Marianne Vallin (1994-97) as UNLV's only four-time all-conference players. Also included on the All-MWC team was repeater Ortiz-Luis, who was a perfect 6-0 in league play, while Gantcheva and Marin were UNLV's only doubles team to be so honored.

Kicking off the tournament April 28, the third-seeded Lady Rebels fought through a rare rain delay in San Diego to blank Colorado State 5-0. Playing in the semifinals for the fifth time in the six-year history of the league event, UNLV would get another crack at rival New Mexico. Cory's Crew first shocked the Lobos by eking out a win in doubles as its top team, Gantcheva and Marin defeated UNM's eighth-ranked Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic 8-6. In singles play, UNLV overcame its top player going down in straight sets as Gantcheva, who began suffering from the effects of a bum wrist, was upset by No. 46 Kovacek 6-1, 6-3. Proving their depth, the Lady Rebels got their points down low, taking matches on three of the bottom four courts: Ortiz-Luis at No. 3, Cindy Treber at No. 5 and Smith rallying at No. 6 to double up the Lobos 4-2.

The Lady Rebels moved into their third MWC title match but first since 2002. UNLV had won both of its previous appearances in the final and unlike the earlier rout in Provo, top-seeded BYU had to fight for every point. UNLV ultimately could not overcome a close loss in a doubles session that included a 9-8 tiebreaker win to clinch the opening point. In singles, Treber won easily to tie the match and Gantcheva got it done at the top spot to give UNLV a 2-1 lead. After BYU retook the lead with two close victories, UNLV couldn't win any of the day's three three-setters as BYU took it 4-2.

With the Cougars grabbing the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, UNLV waited for word on an at-large bid. Now ranked 41st, the Lady Rebels got good news on May 4 when they learned they were headed to the postseason for the fifth time in their history and would open with Texas A&M.

Unfortunately, the trip did not last long as UNLV was eliminated in the first round on Friday the 13th by the Aggies 4-0 on a sticky afternoon at Penick-Allison Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Texas.

The season was supposed to continue for one Lady Rebel as Gantcheva had earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Singles Championship in Athens, Ga. The rookie star, who was the first Lady Rebel invited since 2001, instead had to withdraw because of the wrist injury and finished the season with a 31-8 singles record overall.

"Overall, the year was a success and we continued to solidify the foundation for a strong future," said Cory of his 14-9 squad. "The energy in our program is high and the future looks bright."