Sept. 12, 2006

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV women's tennis team has two players included in the preseason FILA Collegiate Tennis Rankings for the first time in four years and for only the third time in program history.

All-American junior Elena Gantcheva earned a career-best preseason ranking of 13th after turning in another stunning season a year ago with a 33-9 overall mark. The 2006 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year was 24th at this time a year ago and rose as high as 10th in the spring before finishing 17th in June.

Joining her on the list is sophomore Nikol Dimitrova at No. 82. The fellow native of Sofia, Bulgaria, finished 115th nationally in June after an impressive 16-4 freshman campaign.

"Having two players in the top 100 is a significant achievement for our program and shows that UNLV tennis is getting a lot of respect nationally," said head coach Kevin Cory. "It also is a sign of good things to come for our team this season."

In 2002, Gyorgyi Zsiros was ranked No. 76 while Paulina Janus was 79th. In 1996, three-time All-American Marianne Vallin began at No. 12 and Veronica Goude was No. 83.