April 1, 2007
LAS VEGAS - The 56th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team could not take any of three three-set singles matches on Sunday and lost 5-2 to No. 41 TCU at the Friedman Tennis Center.
The Lady Rebels fell to 15-5 overall and dropped out of first place in the Mountain West Conference at 4-1 while the Horned Frogs, who were celebrating senior day, improved to 12-7 and 3-0.
UNLV had the early momentum after emerging victorious from a spirited morning doubles session. After TCU struck first with an 8-6 win on court two, the 35th-ranked Lady Rebel duo of Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva upset the nation's No. 6 team of Ana Cetnik and Anna Sydorska 8-5 to improve to 18-2 overall this season, including 4-0 vs. ranked opponents. Not soon after, senior Claire Smith and freshman Alisa Razina won their match on court three and UNLV claimed a 1-0 lead. The hosts came out strong in singles play and quickly took a 2-1 lead with straight-set victories on courts four and three.
Gantcheva then tied the overall match by finishing off 54th-ranked Sydorska 6-1, 6-1 at the top spot. The defending MWC Player of the Year looks to be back in All-American form after winning her seventh straight match, including three in the past week vs. ranked opponents. Improving to 16-6 as a junior, Gantcheva Sunday became just the fourth player in program history to reach 80 career singles victories. She also won for the 15th consecutive time in a dual match vs. a MWC opponent, a streak that dates back to April 29, 2005.
With the remaining matches all having split sets, UNLV needed to win two of them to complete the upset. TCU, however, won all three final stanzas by the identical score of 6-4 to win going away.
The fifth position was done first as Andrea Morgado fought off Linda Tempelfelde 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. At No. 2, 84th-ranked Nina Munch-Soegaard got by Nedeltcheva 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to clinch it for the Frogs and then Karine Ionesco rallied past Razina on court six, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The Lady Rebels will take next week off before facing Utah on April 13 in San Diego.
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#41 TCU 5, #56 UNLV 2At Friedman Tennis Center, Fort Worth
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. #35 Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. #6 Cetnik/Sydorska (TCU) 8-52. Munch-Soegaard/Nichols (TCU) def. Dimitrova/Tempelfelde (UNLV) 8-63. Smith/Razina (UNLV) def. Morgado/Ionesco (TCU) 8-6
SINGLES: (TCU EARNS FIVE TEAM POINTS)1. Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. #54 Anna Sydorska (TCU) 6-1, 6-12. #84 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) def. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 6-4, 4-6, 6-43. #41 Ana Cetnik (TCU) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 6-3, 6-14. Kewa Nichols (TCU) def. Claire Smith (UNLV) 6-3, 6-35. Andrea Morgado (TCU) def. Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) 6-2, 1-6, 6-46. Karine Ionesco (TCU) def. Alisa Razina (UNLV) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
