Oct. 21, 2007

SAN DIEGO - UNLV women's tennis star Elena Gantcheva will play in her second career ITA West Regional Singles Championship on Monday after earning a come-from-behind semifinal victory on Sunday at the Barnes Tennis Center.

The ninth-seeded and 50th-ranked senior from Sofia, Bulgaria, dropped her first set but rallied past San Diego State freshman Julia Trunk 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to advance.

Gantcheva will face 24th-ranked and fourth-seeded Nadia Abdala of Arizona State in the championship showdown starting at 10 a.m. Abdala advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win over USC's Amanda Fink.

With the victory, Gantcheva improved her career singles mark at the annual event to an impressive 14-2. The only Lady Rebel to ever reach a regional championship match, she lost in the 2004 final as a freshman.

By reaching the last day of competition, Gantcheva has already earned a spot in the November 3-6 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships hosted by The Ohio State University at the Racquet Club of Columbus.

Gantcheva and partner Kristina Nedeltcheva, seeded second and ranked fifth nationally, also competed in Sunday's doubles semifinals but were defeated by fifth-seeded Fink and Gabriela Niculescu of USC.

"It's great to see Elena back in fine form," said UNLV head coach Kevin Cory. "They had a very close doubles match to start the day and, after losing her first set, Elena really cranked it up and played some great tennis to finish out the match. She faces a real big hitter tomorrow from ASU. But it's another opportunity to face a top 25 player and we're excited to be in the finals again of one of the strongest regions in the country."

Also, two other Lady Rebels finished the tournament on high notes as Katy Williams and Anna Maskaljun both posted 4-0 records in the consolation bracket.

2007 ITA WEST REGION WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPSBarnes Tennis Center, San Diego
SINGLES SEMIFINAL(9) Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. Julia Trunk (SDSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
DOUBLES SEMIFINAL(5) Amanda Fink/Gabriela Niculescu (USC) def. (2) Gantcheva/Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 8-5