April 21, 2009

LAS VEGAS - Junior standout Kristina Nedeltcheva is the first UNLV tennis player -- men's or women's -- to be named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week five times in one season, the league announced Tuesday.

Nedeltcheva (23-8 in singles), who also won on Jan. 21, Feb. 25, March 18 and April 1, was a combined 4-0 at the No. 1 spot in singles and in doubles over the weekend as UNLV went 2-0 to finish perfect vs. MWC opponents and earn its first outright regular-season championship.

Currently ranked 112th in the nation, the native of Sofia, Bulgaria, weekend saw her pick up her sixth ranked singles win of the spring, downing No. 116 McCall Jones of BYU in straight sets after downing Utah's top player one day earlier.

Nedeltcheva also teamed with senior Katy Williams to win two doubles matches to improve to 23-8 in doubles play.

Nedeltcheva had shared the UNLV tennis record of four awards with former Lady Rebel All-Americans Elena Gantcheva (2008) and Katarina Malec (2000).

UNLV, which moved up eight spots to No. 42 in Tuesday's Campbell's ITA Tennis Rankings, opens play at the 2009 MWC Championships on Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M.