April 26, 2008
FORT WORTH, Texas - The second-seeded UNLV women's tennis team broke top-seeded TCU's 13-match winning streak and stunned the 23rd-ranked Horned Frogs 4-2 on their home courts on Saturday to win the Mountain West Conference tournament crown and secure the automatic bid to the NCAA championships.
With their eighth-straight victory, the 54th-ranked Lady Rebels improved their overall record to 17-8 and the program's all-time mark at the MWC event to an impressive 18-6. UNLV improved its record in MWC finals to 3-2 and earned its first tourney championship since 2002. TCU, which had won all 10 previous matches this season vs. league opponents, fell to 20-5 overall.
After losing a hotly contested doubles point, the visitors from Las Vegas rebounded by dominating singles play, winning the first set on five of six courts en route to avenging a 4-3 defeat at home to TCU earlier this month. The Horned Frogs were the highest-ranked opponent the Lady Rebels had defeated since knocking off No. 21 Fresno State on Feb. 26, 2005.
"After losing a tough doubles point, we just had an unbelievable start in singles," said UNLV head coach Kevin Cory. "Today we saw the team that we knew that we could have. We played amazingly well against a great opponent that deserves to be ranked in the top 25.
"It feels like it's been a long time coming after losing our last two trips to the conference finals and I'm so happy that we are able to send off our two seniors with a championship. The girls were on a mission this week. They came here to win a title and now they are going home with the trophy."
The Frogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead with victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions. The TCU duo of Nina Munch-Soegaard and Maria Babanova led off with an 8-6 win over Sharon Marin and Alisa Razina, while the freshman tandem of Idunn Hertzberg and Katariina Tuohimaa rallied to clinch the point with a 9-7 defeat of Katy Williams and Anna Maskaljun on court three. At the top of the lineup, UNLV's 37th-ranked duo of Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva was leading 7-6 and receiving match point vs. 16th-ranked Macall Harkins and Anna Sydorska when the match was halted.
In singles, the top of the Lady Rebel lineup was simply overpowering. Nedeltcheva ended Harkins' eight-match win streak with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at the No. 2 slot, while Dimitrova won her eighth straight match, 6-2, 6-0 over 106th-ranked Sydorska. Williams gave UNLV its third point with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Kewa Nichols at the No. 5 position. Tuohimaa then kept TCU alive with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Makaljun at the No. 4 spot.
Gantcheva, ranked 34th in the nation and fresh from earning her record third MWC Player of the Year Award, sealed the win for UNLV, defeating No. 61 Munch-Soegaard by a score of 6-4, 7-6 (7-0) at the top spot. Gantcheva's ninth-straight singles victory upped her season record to 30-10 overall and 19-4 in dual matches.
The remaining match, which saw Marin leading in the third set on court six, was then halted.
Playing at the Friedman Tennis Center on the TCU campus, Cory said he could think of no one better to take the clinching match than his prized senior star.
"We were fired up today," Cory said. "99 percent of the crowd was cheering against us but the girls were focused and confident. We had two players, Kristina and Nikol, look unstoppable in defeating players that they lost to in straight sets last time out. Then there's Katy, who is coming off a broken wrist and came up big by also winning in straight sets. And I can't think of anyone else I would rather have out there to finish the clinching match than the league's three-time MVP. Elena is one of the best to ever play at UNLV and it was fitting that she got to finish off such a big victory."
By capturing the automatic bid, UNLV now knows it will play in its seventh all-time NCAA event and fifth under the leadership of Cory. The Lady Rebels find out Tuesday where they are headed for regional competition slated for May 9-10.
UNLV ALL-TIME MWC CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH RESULTS2000, defeated BYU 5-22002, defeated SDSU 4-22005, lost to BYU 4-22007, lost to BYU 4-02008, defeated TCU 4-2
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTS2008 MWC CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHNo. 54 (2) UNLV 4, No. 23 (1) TCU 2At Friedman Tennis Center, Fort Worth
DOUBLES - (TCU earns one team point)1. No. 37 Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) vs. No. 16 Harkins/Sydorska (TCU) 7-6 (DNF)2. Tuohimaa/Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) def. Williams/Maskaljun (UNLV) 9-73. Munch-Soegaard/Babanova (TCU) def. Marin/Alisa Razina (UNLV) 8-6Order of Finish: 3,2*
SINGLES - (UNLV earns four team points)1. No. 34 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. No. 61 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) 6-4, 7-6(0)2. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Macall Harkins (TCU) 6-2, 6-23. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) def. No. 106 Anna Sydorska (TCU) 6-2, 6-04. Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) def. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) 7-5, 6-35. Katy Williams (UNLV) def. Kewa Nichols (TCU) 6-4, 6-36. Sharon Marin (UNLV) vs. Maria Babanova (TCU) 6-1, 1-6, 3-2 (DNF)Order of Finish: 2,3,5,4,1**Clinching point
