April 24, 2009

ALBUQUERQUE - The top-seeded and 42nd-ranked UNLV women's tennis team won its 13th consecutive match and advanced to the championship of the 2009 Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Tournament with a 4-1 win Friday over No. 5 seed New Mexico at the Jerry Cline Tennis Center.

The defending-champion Lady Rebels won their seventh straight over the Lobos to improve to 20-6 overall to mark the program's most wins since going 20-4 in 2002. Host UNM's season ended at 10-14.

Since the event's inception in 2000, UNLV boasts a 20-6 record in MWC championship play and has advanced to the final five times, winning three of them. Just like last year, the Lady Rebels will face 29th-ranked TCU in Saturday's championship, which is set to begin at 9 a.m. PT. UNLV upset the home-standing Horned Frogs 4-2 last season in Fort Worth to take the trophy.

On Friday, UNLV easily earned the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. Kristina Nedeltcheva and Katy Williams teamed up for an 8-2 win at the top spot after Alisa Razina and Anna Maskaljun had blanked their opponents 8-0 at No. 2.

In singles play, Rumyana Terzieva was the first off the court with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Maria Sotirchos at No. 6. UNM got its one and only point with a straight-set win at No. 2 before the Lady Rebels clinched it with victories by Adrienn Hidvegi, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 4 and on the top of the lineup where Nedeltcheva ended things by downing 2009 MWC Player of the Year Ola Abou-Zekry 7-6, 6-0 to avenge her only conference defeat of the season.

"This was another big win for our program," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "We started out playing some amazing doubles and really carried that momentum into singles. We know we have a big challenge ahead of us tomorrow and are excited about getting back on the courts to defend our tournament title."

Second-seeded TCU downed Utah 4-1 on Friday to advance. UNLV, which will be playing in the league final for the third straight year, got by the Horned Frogs 4-3 on March 28 in San Diego en route to winning the 2009 regular-season crown.

UNLV WOMEN ALL-TIME MWC CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH RESULTS2000, defeated BYU 5-22002, defeated San Diego State 4-22005, lost to BYU 4-22007, lost to BYU 4-02008, defeated TCU 4-2
2009 MWC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINAL(1) #42 UNLV 4, (5) New Mexico 1April 24, 2009, at Albuquerque, N.M.Jerry Cline Tennis Center
Singles1. #123 Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Ola Abou-Zekry (UNM) 7-6, 6-02. Mackenzie White (UNM) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 6-1, 6-23. Katy Williams (UNLV) vs. Emma Hayman (UNM) 7-5, 5-2 unfinished4. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) def. Ashley Bonner (UNM) 6-3, 6-45. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) vs. Anya Villanueva-Forte (UNM) 7-5, 5-3 unfinished6. Rumyana Terzieva (UNLV) def. Maria Sotirchos (UNM) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles1. Nedeltcheva/Williams (UNLV) def. Abou-Zekry/Hayman (UNM) 8-22. Alisa Razina/Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Bonner/Vlllanueva-Forte (UNM) 8-03. Dimitrova/Terzieva (UNLV) vs. Maria Sotirchos/Victoria Tessmar (UNM) 6-6 unfinished