May 12, 2007

BERKELEY, Calif. - The 46th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team was uncharacteristically dominated in doubles play on Saturday and then couldn't recover in singles en route to falling 4-0 to No. 18 Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the Hellman Tennis Center.

The Lady Rebels ended their season at 19-8 while the Sun Devils improved to 13-9 and advanced to play host Cal in Sunday's second round.

UNLV, which came into the match having won the team doubles point 23 times in 26 outings this season, lost on courts two and three by the identical scores of 8-2. The No. 1 match, which ASU was also leading, was then halted.

In singles, UNLV won only one set before the Sun Devils carved out the required three points. First off was Roxanne Clark, who blanked Nikol Dimitrova on court three 6-0, 6-0. No. 33 Nadia Abdala then finished off Kristina Nedeltcheva 6-4, 6-2 at the second spot. The match ended when Kady Pooler won a second-set tiebreaker to get by senior Linda Tempelfelde 6-2, 7-6 at No. 4.

In the only match between two ranked players, 66th-ranked UNLV star Elena Gantcheva was leading No. 70 Sabrina Capannolo at the top spot, 6-4, 3-3, when it was halted.

"We're obviously disappointed with the result today but Arizona State is definitely a top-10 caliber team," head coach Kevin Cory said. "We've had another very good season and I am proud of what the players accomplished. Anytime you make it to the NCAAs, you've had a solid year."

Cory said with the team just losing two senior starters, he is already excited about 2008.

"We look at our lineup and our top three players are coming back, we get another player back from injury and we'll add an excellent recruiting class. Next year may be one of the biggest we've had here."

Also, the season is not quite over for two Lady Rebels as the team's top duo, 20th-ranked Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva, will compete at the NCAA Doubles Championship in Athens, Ga., later this month.

UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS2007 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS FIRST ROUND#18 ARIZONA STATE 4, #46 UNLV 0At Hellman Tennis Center, Berkeley, CA
DOUBLES: (ASU EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. #18 Clarke/Pooler (ASU) led #20 Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 5-2 (DNF)2. Capannolo/Jessica Leitch (ASU) def. Dimitrova/Tempelfelde (UNLV) 8-23. Rankin/Abdala (ASU) def. Smith/Razina (UNLV) 8-2
SINGLES: (ASU EARNS THREE TEAM POINTS)1. #66 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) led #70 Sabrina Capannolo (ASU) 6-4, 3-32. #33 Nadia Abdala (ASU) def. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 6-4, 6-23. Roxanne Clarke (ASU) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 6-0, 6-04. Kady Pooler (ASU) def. Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) 6-2, 7-65. Rebecca Rankin (ASU) led Alisa Razina (UNLV) 7-5, 4-16. Laila Abdala (ASU) led Claire Smith (UNLV) 6-2, 4-3