May 15, 2006

LAS VEGAS - UNLV super sophomore Elena Gantcheva has been named the 2006 West Region Player to Watch by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

The All-American is the first women's player from the school to earn the award and will now be among the eight regional winners to be considered for the national ITA Player to Watch Award, which will be announced later this month.

Only former Lady Rebel great Marianne Vallin had previously been honored by the ITA. The three-time All-American was named the ITA National Rookie of the Year in 1994 and the ITA Regional Senior of the Year in 1997.

Gantcheva, the 2006 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, is preparing to travel to Stanford for the NCAA Singles Championship on May 23-28 at the Taube Tennis Center. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, earned the league's automatic bid to the national tournament and was placed among seeds 9-16.

"This is a prestigious award and we are very proud of Elena," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "It's an even bigger achievement when you consider that she is competing in one of the strongest regions in the country."

Gantcheva, who has won 11 straight matches, will head to the tournament with a 33-8 singles record, including an impressive 8-3 mark vs. top-25 opponents. It will mark the first time a Lady Rebel has competed in the tournament since Paulina Janus in 2001. Gantcheva earned a wild-card entry last year but was forced to withdraw from the field because of a wrist injury.

2006 ITA PLAYERS TO WATCHREGION    PLAYER, SCHOOLEast      Megan Moulton-Levy, William and MarySoutheast Jenna Long, North CarolinaSouth     Kristi Miller, Georgia TechMidwest   Caitlin Burke, WisconsinCentral   Ksenia Bukina, KansasSouthwest Zuzana Cerna, BaylorNorthwest Theresa Logar, StanfordWest      Elena Gantcheva, UNLV