March 31, 2007

FORT WORTH, Texas - The 56th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team stayed perfect in Mountain West Conference action with a neutral-site, 6-1 victory over No. 58 New Mexico on the campus of TCU Saturday.

The Lady Rebels improved to 15-4 overall and a league-leading 4-0 while the Lobos fell to 7-8 and 0-2.

Despite a shocking upset loss at the top of the lineup, UNLV began the day by taking two of three doubles matches for one team point.

On court one, the unranked UNM team of Lucy Scott and Sandra Zmak rallied to upset 35th-ranked Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva 8-6 and hand the Lady Rebel duo just its second loss in 19 matches this season.

Winning for UNLV, however, were the teams of Nikol Dimitrova and Linda Tempelfelde at No. 2 to improve to 15-2, and Claire Smith and Alisa Razina at No. 3 to up their record to 14-4.

In singles play, Gantcheva downed No. 105 Ola Abou-Zekry 6-3, 7-6 to improve her career singles record to 79-23 and move her into fourth place on the school's all-time wins list.

Nedeltcheva notched her team-leading 19th victory with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 triumph at No. 2; Smith swept her opponent 7-5, 6-2 at No. 4; Tempelfelde improved to 15-3 in dual matches with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 5; and freshman Razina won in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

"Another solid win over a very good program," head coach Kevin Cory said. "We always have close matches with New Mexico and it is nice to come away with the victory. We look to keep this momentum going into a big match tomorrow vs. TCU."

The Lady Rebels will close their road trip by facing the 41st-ranked Horned Frogs (11-7/2-0) on Sunday beginning at 8 a.m. PDT.

UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#56 UNLV 6, #58 NEW MEXICO 1At Friedman Tennis Center, Fort Worth
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Scott/Zmak (UNM) def. #35 Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 8-62. Dimitrova/Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Ryba/Abou-Zekry (UNM) 8-53. Razina/Smith (UNLV) def. Quintal/White (UNM) 8-5
SINGLES: (UNLV EARNS FIVE TEAM POINTS)1. Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. #120 Ola Abou-Zekry (UNM) 6-3, 7-62. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Sandra Zmak (UNM) 1-6, 6-4, 6-33. Mackenzie White (UNM) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 5-7, 7-6, 1-0 (14-12)4. Claire Smith (UNLV) def. Lucy Scott (UNM) 7-5, 6-25. Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Nora Quintal (UNM) 6-7, 6-3, 6-46. Alisa Razina (UNLV) def. Jennifer Ryba (UNM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3