April 16, 2008

LAS VEGAS - The defending Mountain West Conference champion UNLV men's tennis team is seeded fourth and will face fifth-seeded BYU to open play at next week's annual tournament, the league announced.

The Rebels stand 10-11 overall and went 3-3 in conference play this spring. That is the same MWC mark the program had a year ago when head coach Owen Hambrook's squad stormed to the championship.

This year's tournament, which is being staged at the Friedman Tennis Center on the campus of TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, begins on April 24 when UNLV and the Cougars (14-11/2-2) will meet in a quarterfinal match on 2 p.m. PT. The winner of that match will face the top-seeded host Horned Frogs (18-6/5-1) in one semifinal. The championship is scheduled for Saturday at 8 a.m. PT.

"We're looking forward to the conference tournament," Hambrook said. "BYU is always a tough opponent and we had a very close match with them already this year. TCU is a well-deserving top seed and being at home, they are the favorite to win it. We plan on having a good week of practice and everyone should be ready to go next Thursday."

UNLV has defeated BYU three straight times, including in last year's MWC final held Colorado Springs. The schools met during the regular season on March 27 in Las Vegas and the Rebels earned a hard-fought 4-3 victory. Last year, UNLV peaked at the right time and won three matches in three days to earn the program's first-ever MWC men's tennis championship along with the accompanying automatic NCAA bid.

2008 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Thursday, April 248 a.m. PT   Quarterfinal Match #1  No. 3 Utah vs. No. 6 San Diego State11 a.m. PT  Quarterfinal Match #2  No. 2 New Mexico vs. No. 7 Air Force2 p.m. PT   Quarterfinal Match #3  No. 4 UNLV vs. No. 5 BYUFriday, April 258 a.m. PT   Semifinal Match #1     Utah/SDSU Winner vs. UNM/AFA Winner12 p.m. PT  Semifinal Match #2     No. 1 TCU vs. UNLV/BYU WinnerSaturday, April 268 a.m. PT   Championship Match