June 2, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Former UNLV tennis great Elena Gantcheva closed her illustrious career ranked 35th in both singles and doubles as the final national and regional rankings were released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

The winningest player in Mountain West Conference history, Gantcheva (29-11 in singles as a senior) was also ranked seventh in the high-powered ITA West Region. With a career mark of 112-37, she leaves as the only player in Lady Rebel history to earn a top-10 national ranking in both singles and doubles during a career.

The three-time conference MVP also teamed with sophomore Kristina Nedeltcheva for a 23-9 doubles mark in 2007-08. The duo, both hailing from Sofia, Bulgaria, finished 35th nationally and fifth regionally after earning a second-straight trip to the NCAA championships.

Also ranked regionally in singles this season was Nedeltcheva (18-10) at No. 25 and junior Nikol Dimitrova (17-15) at No. 29.

As a team the Mountain West Conference Champion Lady Rebels (17-9) finished the year ranked 38th nationally and fifth regionally, marking the seventh straight season that head coach Kevin Cory's program finished among in the nation's top 50.