Feb. 12, 2010
LAS VEGAS - Kristina Nedeltcheva broke a UNLV tennis record that stood for two decades as part of her team's 7-0 win over Utah State in the second half of a doubleheader Friday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
With their second shutout of the day, the Lady Rebels improved to 5-2 while the Aggies fell to 2-2.
Nedeltcheva, a senior out of Sofia, Bulgaria, began the afternoon by teaming up with Jana Albers to win her doubles match at the top of the lineup, 8-6, over Hailey Swenson and Jaclyn West. The victory was the 85th of Nedeltcheva's illustrious career, breaking the school record of 84 set by Jolene Watanabe from 1987-90. Even more impressive is the fact that the current Lady Rebel has 18 fewer all-time losses in doubles (27 to 45) than Watanabe, which makes here the program's top performer in career winning percentage as well at .759.
"What an amazing accomplishment for Kristina," said UNLV head coach Kevin Cory. "For her to be No. 1 on the all-time doubles with a lot of her senior season still remaining shows just how much she has meant to this program. With all of the great players here over the years, for Jolene to have a record stand for 20 years is incredible and makes it even more impressive for Kristina to break it today."
UNLV also won the other two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead into singles play and was even more dominant there.
Nedeltcheva, ranked 50th in the nation in singles, defeated Swenson 6-1, 6-4 to improve to 17-3 on the season. That gave her 79 career singles wins, which moved her all alone into fifth place on the school's all-time list in that category.
Albers, ranked 44th, downed Jaclyn West 6-3, 6-2 at the second spot; Nives Pavlovic won 6-0, 6-3 over Kristina Voytsekovich at No. 3; Adrienn Hidvegi won 6-3, 6-0 over Monica Abella at No. 4; Anna Maskaljun won 6-1, 6-1 over Taylor Perry at No. 5; and Alisa Razina won 6-3, 6-0 over Britney Watts on court six.
The Lady Rebels, who downed UC Riverside 7-0 earlier in the day, will take the rest of the weekend off and welcome No. 42 Fresno State to town on Feb. 19 starting with doubles at 10 a.m. Admission is free of charge.
Women's Tennis Match ResultsFeb. 12, 2010 at Las Vegas(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
#39 UNLV 7, Utah State 0
Singles competition1. #50 Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Hailey Swenson (USU) 6-1, 6-42. #44 Jana Albers (UNLV) def. Jaclyn West (USU) 6-3, 6-23. Nives Pavlovic (UNLV) def. Kristina Voytsekovich (USU) 6-0, 6-34. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) def. Monica Abella (USU) 6-3, 6-05. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Tayor Perry (USU) 6-1, 6-16. Alisa Razina (UNLV) def. Britney Watts (USU) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles competition1. Nedeltcheva/Albers (UNLV) def. Swenson/West (USU) 8-62. Razina/Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Abella/Yoytsekovich (USU) 8-13. Pavlovic/Hidvegi (UNLV) def. Perry/Watts (USU) 8-1
