April 28, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 56th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team lost the doubles point for the first time in 13 matches and No. 31 BYU went on to claim a 4-0 victory Saturday in the Mountain West Conference final, which was held at the Air Force Academy.
The third-seeded Lady Rebels, who lost to BYU for the 10th consecutive time, fell to 19-7 overall while the top-seeded Cougars improved to 21-6 and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
UNLV was playing in its fourth title match in the eight-year history of the league and now stands 2-2, with both losses coming at the hands of the Cougars.
BYU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by winning two of the three doubles matches. Claire Smith and Alisa Razina saw their 11-match winning streak snapped, falling 8-2 to Kristina Doerr and Sofia Holden at the third position. BYU's top team of Jenny Miccoli and Anastasia Surkova, ranked 48th in the country, then clinched the point with an 8-3 win over the nation's 20th-ranked team of Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva, which dropped the Lady Rebels duo's season mark to 23-3. The No. 2 match was then halted with UNLV leading 6-4.
BYU came out smoking in singles as well, winning the first set on five of six courts. The top spot featured a showdown of the league's co-players of the year but 89th-ranked Surkova put the Cougars up 2-0 by downing No. 66 Gantcheva, 6-3, 6-2. Holden then upped the lead to 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Razina on court five. Senior Lauren Jones then pulled out a three-set victory, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, over Nedeltcheva at No. 2 to clinch the championship. The remaining three matches were halted in the third set.
UNLV now awaits word on a possible at-large bid to an NCAA regional. The selections are scheduled to be announced Tuesday.
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS2007 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE FINAL#31 BYU 4, #56 UNLV 0At AFA Outdoor Tennis Facility, Colorado Springs
DOUBLES: (BYU EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. #48 Jenny Miccoli/Surkova (BYU) def. #20 Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 8-32. Dimitrova/Tempelfelde (UNLV) vs. Jones/Chang (BYU) DNF3. Holden/Doerr (BYU) def. Smith/Razina (UNLV) 8-2
SINGLES: (BYU EARNS THREE TEAM POINTS)1. #89 Anastasia Surkova (BYU) def. #66 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) 6-3, 6-22. Lauren Jones (BYU) def. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 6-3, 3-6, 6-23. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) vs. Kristina Doerr (BYU) DNF4. Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) vs. Chie Hayasaka (BYU) DNF5. Sofia Holden (BYU) def. Alisa Razina (UNLV) 6-4, 6-16. Claire Smith (UNLV) vs. Dolly Chang (BYU) DNF
