Feb. 21, 2010
LAS VEGAS - The 50th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team capped off one of the best weekends in program history by rallying past No. 39 Texas A&M on a breezy Sunday at Fertitta Tennis Complex.
The Lady Rebels' fifth consecutive victory improved them to 8-2 overall and 8-0 at home while the Aggies saw their three-match winning streak snapped and fell to 3-3 overall.
UNLV also downed No. 41 Fresno State 6-1 on Friday and No. 56 San Diego 5-2 on Saturday. This marks the first time the Lady Rebels have defeated three ranked opponents in succession since head coach Kevin Cory's crew took down No. 75 Cal State Northridge, No. 44 Oklahoma and No. 32 Texas A&M back in March of 2003.
Under partly cloudy skies, things looked gloomy early on as the Aggies won two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. The hosts did post a ranked win at the top of the lineup as senior star Kristina Nedeltcheva and her partner Jana Albers survived a tiebreaker to down No. 52 Elze Potgieter and Nazari Urbina 8-7. The UNLV duo improved to 9-1 in dual matches this season (13-3 overall) and gave Nedeltcheva her school-record 88th career doubles triumph.
The Rebels rebounded quickly in singles play, however, as Rumyana Terzieva made quick work of Stephanie Davidson on court six, 6-1, 6-0, while Nedeltcheva rolled past 33rd-ranked Potgieter 6-4, 6-0 to put the home team ahead 2-1. Potgieter, who has two top-25 wins to her credit this season, came into Sunday's meeting with Nedeltcheva having not lost even a set while building a 5-0 record in 2010.
A&M then a got straight-set victory on court two to tie things at 2-2 before Anna Maskaljun outlasted Sheri Olivier 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreaker) on court five for UNLV's third point. It was quickly tied again when Morgan Frank finished off her rally past 72nd-ranked Albers 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 at the third position. Just minutes later, however, junior Adrienn Hidvegi finished off her own impressive comeback vs. Christi Liles in the fourth spot, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, to end it.
"This was a great college tennis match that could have gone either way, but our girls really showed a lot of heart," Cory said. "Texas A&M is consistently one of the top programs in the country and we knew we were in for a battle. They simply outplayed us in doubles but we rebounded in singles and really came out swinging. The heart of our lineup came through for us in the end at four and five. Both Anna and Adrienn were determined to help us to get to the four points we needed to win the match."
Nedeltcheva, ranked 45th nationally in singles, continued her incredible play, improving to 20-3 overall and 9-0 at the top spot in the lineup. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, has not lost a singles match since October 18 and has now won an eye-popping 18 consecutive matches in team dual play dating back to last March.
"Kristina once again led the way in singles and doubles today," Cory said. "Her game is really coming together at a great time for the team."
UNLV will host another pair of ranked opponents next weekend as the Lady Rebels will face Denver on Friday and Pepperdine on Sunday. Both matches are scheduled to begin with doubles play at 10 a.m. and admission is free of charge.
Women's Tennis Match ResultsFeb. 21, 2010, at Las Vegas(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
#50 UNLV 4, #39 Texas A&M 3
Singles competition1. #45 Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. #33 Elze Potgieter (TXA&M) 6-4, 6-02. #69 Nazari Urbina (TXA&M) def. Nives Pavlovic (UNLV) 6-4, 6-23. Morgan Frank (TXA&M) def. #72 Jana Albers (UNLV) 5-7, 6-4, 6-04. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) def. Christi Liles (TXA&M) 4-6, 6-3, 6-25. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Sheri Olivier (TXA&M) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)6. Rumyana Terzieva (UNLV) def. Stephanie Davidson (TXA&M) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles competition1. Nedeltcheva/Albers (UNLV) def. #52 Potgieter/Urbina (TXA&M) 8-72. Liles/Frank (TXA&M) def. #43 Alisa Razina/Maskaljun (UNLV) 8-23. Davidson/Olivier (TXA&M) def. Pavlovic/Hidvegi (UNLV) 8-5
