Surprisingly spurned a year ago by the NCAA selection committee, the UNLV women's tennis team intends to make sure the program heads back to the postseason event in 2007.
After heading the last team left out of the tournament last spring, eighth-year UNLV head coach Kevin Cory says the unexpected turn of events will serve as motivation for this year's squad.
"I thought we had done enough to get us a bid but we ended up as the last team out," Cory says. "That will serve as motivation for us this year. We don't want to leave any doubt this season and I think we'll have the team to do it."
Indeed. The Lady Rebels, who peaked in the rankings at 37 in '06, lost just one player as No. 4 starter Cindy Treber graduated after posting a career-best 20-8 singles record. A roster that last year featured a sophomore All-American, a nationally ranked freshman and three dependable juniors now boasts one more season of experience and the addition of two outstanding recruits.
"Losing just one player and adding two potential starters means we have a better team overall," says Cory. "We will be much deeper this year and I believe we've set ourselves up for another strong run at the conference championship and a regional bid. Of course, a lot of factors come into play during a season. You have to keep people healthy and have some bounces go your way but we have the type of team to do some damage."
One thing is certain this spring: the Lady Rebels will be playing on new, state-of-the-art courts that are part of a $2 million renovation project at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
"The new courts are amazing," says Cory. "The facility has always been great but the new courts give us one the top stadiums in the nation. Everyone who has seen them has raved."
THE LINEUP
Call them The Bulgarian Bunch -- three outstanding women's tennis players in different years from each other all hailing from Sofia, Bulgaria, and all suiting up for UNLV.
One of the elite players in college tennis, Elena Gantcheva (33-9 in singles 2005-06) returns for a third year atop the lineup and, despite missing most of the fall season because of a wrist injury, looks to return to her top-10 form. The defending Mountain West Conference Player of the Year earned a preseason ranking of 13 and looks primed to become just the second woman in program history to become a two-time All-American.
"Elena just had an amazing year," says Cory. "Getting ranked as high as eighth in the country helped her set a foundation for this program. She keeps raising the bar for what we expect in practice every day and in matches. She had an injury in the fall but we expect to keep her healthy and have a big spring."
Although she has not left the top 25 national rankings since June 2005, Gantcheva did not play enough tournament matches in the fall to allow her to earn the lofty single-digit rankings of a year ago.
"Being injured, she missed out on playing a lot of top players, but she can still be a top-25 player and get a bid to the NCAA tournament for a third straight year. I think her best tennis is ahead of her and she's going to have some outstanding victories for us in 2007."
Last year's No. 2, fellow Bulgarian Nikol Dimitrova (16-4), joined the team in January and promptly won big while earning her first national ranking in the final poll of the season. With Dimitrova sitting at No. 82 in this year's preseason, she and Gantcheva made up only the third UNLV duo in history to be ranked at the same time.
"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," says Cory. "Nikol had a great year and was ranked by the end of her first semester on campus but I think has yet to fully tap into her potential. I expect her to make a run at getting to the NCAA tournament."
The third Bulgarian is freshman Kristina Nedeltcheva, who has already done enough in just one fall tournament season to earn an ITA West Region ranking of 18.
"Kristina has been a real pleasant addition to our team and I expect her to play in the top half of our lineup," says Cory. "She has a huge game, a big forehand and serve. She's an all-court player who is going to be a tremendous help in both singles and doubles."
The team's other newcomer is Alisa Razina, who joined the program in January. "We're excited about Alisa joining us this semester. She had some outstanding junior results and we expect her to make an impact right away and be one of our stronger doubles players."
Returning for her junior year is Sharon Marin (14-9), who despite still suffering from a bad back, tasted her first real success late in her second season, including two victories over ranked opponents out of the No. 3 spot in the lineup. "Sharon has battled injuries the last two years but turned in an amazing spring considering she was playing at about 50 percent. She played really well in conference matches (5-2 vs. MWC) and we expect good things from her."
The team's senior leadership comes in the bottom half of the lineup as a trio of final-year veterans combined for a 30-14 dual-match record a season ago.
A familiar face to Lady Rebel fans, Claire Smith (18-11) has been a starter every year on campus and will leave the school firmly entrenched on the top-10 career victories list for both singles and doubles. "Claire has been an ideal student-athlete. She works hard every day, contributes a lot to the team during matches and has an outstanding GPA. She will once again be a huge factor in our success."
Linda Tempelfelde (21-9) was nearly perfect in MWC play, going 9-1 vs. league opponents overall en route to ranking only behind Gantcheva in overall wins. After finally getting into the regular starting lineup, the former NAIA transfer largely dominated at the No. 6 spot as a junior, including earning her team's only point vs. superpower Stanford. "Linda really came on strong. She is a great athlete and when she puts her mind to it, she's capable of beating anyone she plays."
The final senior is Mery Constanti (3-6), who does her best work in the doubles lineup. Her 10-6 mark with the outgoing Treber made her a solid 31-19 all-time in doubles. "Mery is finishing up a good college career with us. She is a strong doubles player and we are looking for her to step up and be a leader in her last season."
Speaking of doubles, that aspect of the game was clearly the team's Achilles heal in 2006 as three key losses vs. highly ranked opponents all ended 4-3 after UNLV lost the doubles point and then split singles play. "We struggled the last few years in doubles. It's always difficult getting down 1-0 against top teams because it puts a lot of pressure on us to win four of six singles matches."
Cory, however, promises that times are changing.
"We're upgrading our doubles. Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva will probably be at number one but after that, we'll experiment a little bit. This might end up as the best doubles lineup we've ever had."
THE SCHEDULE
No less than 12 of the 22 teams on the UNLV women's tennis 2007 schedule were ranked at the end of last season, including defending NCAA champion Stanford. "Once again we have a very challenging schedule," Cory says. "We are willing to put it on the line against top teams in the country year after year and 2007 is no different. This is the type of schedule you need to get that bid."
The MWC slate opens March 23 vs. Wyoming. Also coming to Las Vegas are Colorado State and Air Force. UNLV travels to Fort Worth to take on New Mexico and TCU and then closes out the regular-season in San Diego vs. Utah, BYU and SDSU. The league championships will be held at Air Force April 25-28.
"Our conference is getting stronger and stronger. With five teams ranked in the top 50, there are only two or three leagues out there that are better than the Mountain West."
Cory says he does not expect his team to this year be sitting home when the NCAA tournament begins in May. "If we win a couple of those close matches like we had last year, we can be a top 25-30 team. We're in a good position with eight solid players and I believe we've set ourselves up for a good run."
