May 12, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Already considered the best doubles team ever to suit up at UNLV, Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva learned Monday that they will become the first duo in school history to play together in more than one NCAA doubles tournament.

Listed as first alternates when the 32-team field was originally announced last month, the pair received the spot they had hoped for when another team withdrew. Both natives of Sofia, Bulgaria, they will head to Tulsa, Okla., for the 2008 NCAA Division I Doubles Championship, which runs May 21-26 at the Case Tennis Center.

Ranked 35th in the nation, Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva are 23-9 overall and have won 10 of their last 11 matches.

Gantcheva (30-10), ranked 36th as an individual, will also take part in the NCAA Singles Championship, which runs on the same dates. Gantcheva has now qualified for five combined NCAA tournaments (three singles, two doubles), which is second only to seven-time participant Marianne Vallin (1994-97). Vallin was the first Lady Rebel to go to multiple NCAA doubles events but had a different partner for each of her three trips.

Last year, Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva won their way into the Round of 16 by upsetting third-ranked Whitney McCray and Kristi Miller of national champion Georgia Tech 6-2, 6-2 before being defeated the following day. The UNLV duo eventually finished with the highest ranking in school history at No. 18.

Gantcheva, a senior, is second all-time at UNLV with 79 doubles wins and ranks third in career winning percentage of .687. Nedeltcheva, a sophomore, already stands 10th at the school with doubles 48 wins and currently is first in career winning percentage at .774.