March 14, 2008
LAS VEGAS - The 42nd-ranked UNLV women's tennis team continues to struggle without its No. 3 singles player and lost 4-3 to No. 38 Virginia Commonwealth at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on Friday.
The Lady Rebels, who are without the services of the injured Katy Williams (14-7 in singles, 12-5 in doubles this season), fell to 8-5 on the year while the Rams improved to 14-2.
UNLV actually opened the day strong by sweeping the three doubles matches for one point. Winning for the hosts were Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva at No.1, Sharon Marin and Nikol Dimitrova at No. 2 and Alisa Razina and Anna Maskaljun on court three.
Moving to singles, Maskaljun was the first to finish with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 4 over Olena Leonchuk to give her team a 2-0 lead. VCU, however, won the next four completed matches to clinch the team victory. In a battle of ranked players at the top of the lineup, No. 50 Tatsiana Uvarova upset No. 28 Gantcheva 7-5, 6-1. Nedeltcheva, however, would rally after dropping the first set to give UNLV its third point with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 win over Viktoria Konstantinova at No. 2.
UNLV will close out its non-conference schedule on Saturday by hosting No. 25 Pepperdine. Doubles action begins at 10 a.m. and admission is free of charge.
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#38 VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH 4, #42 UNLV 3At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Uvarova/Konstantinova (VCU) 8-32. Marin/Dimitrova (UNLV) def. Burns/Petrashevitch (VCU) 8-33. Alisa Razina/Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Leonchuk/Yergina (VCU) 8-4ORDER OF FINISH: 2,3,1
SINGLES: (VCU EARNS FOUR TEAM POINTS)1. #50 Tatsiana Uvarova (VCU) def. #28 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) 7-5, 6-12. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Viktoria Konstantinova (VCU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-23. #121 Kateryna Yergina (VCU) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 7-6, 7-54. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Olena Leonchuk (VCU) 6-0, 6-25. Laura Burns (VCU) def. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) 6-1, 6-46. Vera Petrashevitch (VCU) def. Sharon Marin (UNLV) 6-2, 6-3ORDER OF FINISH: 4,6,1,5,3,2
