April 17, 2009
LAS VEGAS - The 50th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team earned at least a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season championship by downing No. 65 Utah 5-2 on a beautiful Friday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
The Lady Rebels have now won 10 straight matches, which equals the program's longest streak since 1997, to improve to 17-6 and 7-0 in the league, while the Utes fell to 9-11 and 3-4. This is the first season in school history that UNLV has won at least seven MWC matches and marks the second time head coach Kevin Cory's program has at least tied for the conference's regular-season crown (2003), to go with the team's three all-time Mountain West tournament titles (2000, 2002, 2008).
The Lady Rebs will have an opportunity to win their first outright regular-season championship as they host No. 57 BYU on Saturday. Doubles play begins at 10 a.m. and admission is free of charge. The match will mark the final home action for two seniors, No. 2 player Nikol Dimitrova and No. 3 starter Katy Williams.
"This was a great team effort today," said Cory. "Utah has a lot of talent and is well coached. This puts us exactly where we want to be going into senior day."
The hosts came out firing in doubles and swept the three courts to grab a 1-0 lead. Kristina Nedeltcheva and Williams won 8-6 at the top of the lineup. The victory improved the pair to 23-6 on the year and marked Nedeltcheva's 71st career doubles win, which tied her with Claire Smith (2004-07) for fourth all-time at the school despite only being a junior. Alisa Razina and Anna Maskaljun won 8-1 at No. 2 and Dimitrova and Rumyana Terzieva prevailed 9-7 on court three.
In singles, UNLV took the first set in five of six matches and ultimately won four of them. Nedeltcheva improved her senior singles record to 22-8 with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Erin Monson at No. 1; Williams cruised past Leigh Walsh 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3; Maskaljun fought off Lexi Provancha 7-5, 6-2 at No. 5; and Terzieva won 6-3, 6-4 over Karine Bourdages on court six. The visitors got their points from a straight-set win at No. 2 and a come-from-behind, super-tiebreaker victory at No. 4.
#50 UNLV 5, #65 UTAH 2April 17, 2009At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas
Singles1. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Erin Monson (UU) 6-2, 7-52. Anastasia Putilina (UU) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 6-3, 6-03. Katy Williams (UNLV) def. Leigh Walsh (UU) 6-0, 6-14. Evgenia Kryuchkova (UU) def. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) 0-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-4)5. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Lexi Provancha (UU) 7-5, 6-26. Rumyana Terzieva (UNLV) def. Karine Bourdages (UU) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles1. Nedeltcheva/Williams (UNLV) def. Monson/Andrea Maughan (UU) 8-62. Alisa Razina/Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Putilina/Kryuchkova (UU) 8-13. Dimitrova/Terzieva (UNLV) def. Walsh/Lisa Johnson (UU) 9-7
