March 28, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Call it the near-upset that would have rocked the women's college tennis world. No. 56-ranked UNLV gave No. 1 Stanford all it could handle on Wednesday afternoon before the powerful Cardinal rallied to put away the Lady Rebels 5-2 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
Playing what was its final non-conference match and home date of the season, UNLV saw its four-match winning streak snapped on Senior Day to fall to 14-4 while Stanford, which boasts five ranked players in its singles lineup, improved to 13-1.
Head Coach Kevin Cory's squad, which managed to win just one set against the Cardinal during last year's match in Palo Alto, Calif., went into today's meeting having been outscored in the last eight matches between the programs by the combined score of 56-3. Despite that daunting stat, it was the hosts who went on the offensive as they stunned the Cardinal by winning all three doubles matches for one team point.
At the top spot, the 35th-ranked duo of Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva cruised past No. 34 Lindsay Burdette and Anne Yelsey 8-1 to improve to 17-1 on the season. Claire Smith, one of three seniors on the squad, teamed with freshman Alisa Razina to win 8-6 on court three to clinch the team point. At No. 2, Nikol Dimitrova and senior Linda Tempelfelde rallied from a 5-0 deficit to complete the Lady Rebel sweep with a 9-7 win, which improved UNLV's doubles record in dual matches in 2007 to a jaw-dropping 47-7.
In singles play, Stanford got two quick victories on courts five and two to pull ahead 2-1. However, Gantcheva finished off upsetting 11th-ranked Theresa Logar at the top spot, 7-6, 6-1, to pull her team even while all three remaining matches were splitting sets. But the Cardinal then finished off three-set wins at No. 6 and No. 4 to clinch the match. Dimitrova, who was a match-point away from knocking off 10th-ranked Celia Durkin at No. 3, eventually lost a in a super-tiebreaker 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (10-4).
"Today was a great college tennis match," Cory said. "Even with us coming out on the losing end, I'm extremely proud of the way the team fought against the three-time defending NCAA champion. This should give us a lot of confidence going into the weekend for conference play."
UNLV, which stands 3-0 in the Mountain West Conference, now heads to Forth Worth, Texas, to face New Mexico on Saturday and host TCU on Sunday.
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#1 STANFORD 5, #56 UNLV 2At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. #35 Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. #34 Yelsey/Burdette (STAN) 8-12. Dimitrova/Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Durkin/Hodzic (STAN) 9-73. Razina/Smith (UNLV) def. Deason/Logar (STAN) 8-6
SINGLES: (STANFORD EARNS FIVE TEAM POINTS)1. Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. #11 Theresa Logar (STAN) 7-6, 6-12. #37 Anne Yelsey (STAN) def. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 6-2, 6-03. #10 Celia Durkin (STAN) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (10-4)4. #73 Whitney Deason (STAN) def. Claire Smith (UNLV) 6-4, 3-6, 6-25. #48 Lindsay Burdette (STAN) def. Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) 6-2, 6-46. Lejla Hodzic (STAN) def. Alisa Razina (UNLV) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
