Jan. 18, 2007

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's tennis team will be matched against host Boise State Saturday in the first round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mountain Region Team Playoff.

The 64th-ranked Rebels face the No. 25 Broncos at 8:30 a.m. PT while No. 73 BYU plays unranked New Mexico at 11:30 a.m. The winners of those matches will play each other later that evening. The surviving school earns a spot in the 16-team National Team Indoor Championship, set to be played Feb. 16-18 in Chicago.

This is the second time in three seasons that UNLV players earned enough combined points at last fall's individual regional tournament to qualify as a playoff team. Boise State, which currently features two ranked players in No. 15 Luke Shields and No. 94 Clancy Shields, defeated UNLV 4-0 in Idaho back in January 2005.

"One of our goals was to qualify for the indoor playoffs," said UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook. "This is a testament to the players' hard work and consistent play during the regional tournament. To play indoors at Boise State is a memorable experience because of the great fan support they receive. Plus, this earns us an opportunity to play another top-25 team this season, which is always positive."

UNLV will open its regular-season dual-match campaign by hosting Southern Mississippi on Feb. 2 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.