May 23, 2006
LAS VEGAS - So much for seeding.
When UNLV super sophomore Elena Gantcheva vies for her program's first NCAA Singles Championship victory in six years on Wednesday, she'll have to do it the hard way.
The official 64-player draw was released on Tuesday and 12th-ranked Gantcheva, despite being seeded 9-16, must play 18th-ranked Lindsey Nelson of USC in the first round at the Taube Tennis Center on the campus of Stanford University.
It won't be the first face-off between the two elite players as they met last season as freshmen in the semifinals of the ITA West Regional Championship on October 24, 2004. Nelson's 6-3, 6-4 victory that day snapped Gantcheva's remarkable 14-match winning streak to start her collegiate career.
If Nelson is not enough of a test, a Gantcheva victory could pit her with Fresno State's 23rd-ranked Melanie Gloria in round two while top-seeded Audra Cohen of Miami (Fla.) potentially awaits in the round of 16.
"There's no question that Elena's draw is filled with top players," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "But I told her that her goal here is not to just win one or two rounds but to compete for the national title. She would have to play these players at some point in tournament so now it will just be sooner rather than later."
Gantcheva, the 2006 All-American and Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, has won 11 straight matches but has not played since the league tourney on April 28. She heads into Wednesday with a 33-8 singles record, including an impressive 8-3 mark vs. top-25 opponents. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, is the first UNLV woman to be seeded at the NCAA Singles Championship since Marianne Vallin was also placed in the 9-16 range in both 1994 and 1996.
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. Overall, four Lady Rebels have played in the NCAA singles tournament a total of seven times and forged a record of 7-7. The last UNLV player to win at the event was Katarina Malec in 2000 when she became the first Lady Rebel to get past the second round and rolled all the way into the national semifinals.
Gantcheva is scheduled to play at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Live scoring of the NCAA tournament is available at gostanford.com.
UNLV IN THE NCAA WOMEN'S TENNIS SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS
PLAYERS YEAR(S) RECORDElena Gantcheva 2006 TBDPaulina Janus 2001 0-1Katarina Malec 2000 4-1Marianne Vallin 1994-97 2-4Jolene Watanabe 1990 1-1TOTAL 8 7-7
