April 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS - Hosting the Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Championship for the first time in a decade, the UNLV women are seeded second and begin their quest for a fourth tournament title on Thursday vs. seventh-seeded Air Force beginning at 4 p.m. PT at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
The 34th-ranked Lady Rebels come in riding a six-match winning streak and stand 20-3 overall and 7-1 in the MWC. Air Force is 16-11 and finished 2-6 in MWC play. UNLV defeated the Falcons 7-0 on April 18 in San Diego to close its regular-season schedule. The winner of the rematch will play in Friday's semifinals vs. the winner of Wyoming vs. TCU. The final is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.
UNLV is hosting both the men's and women's championships from Wednesday through Saturday. Tickets, which are available at the Fertitta box office beginning Wednesday, are priced at $10 per person for the entire tournament ($7 for kids 12-and-under and seniors) or $5 per day ($3 kids and seniors).
"We are thrilled to be hosting the Mountain West Conference tournament," said UNLV head coach Kevin Cory. "This is a great opportunity for the Las Vegas community to come out and support the Rebels and see some high-level college tennis. I feel really good about where we are as a team heading into this tournament. We know we're going to have some tough matches but our goal is to win the championship."
Since the event's inception in 2000, the Lady Rebs boast a 20-7 record in MWC championship play and have advanced to at least the semifinals every season except 2001 and won it all in 2000, '02 and '08. UNLV has played in three consecutive championship matches, including last year when it lost to TCU in Albuquerque, N.M.
The 39th-ranked Utah Utes are the No. 1 seed after posting a perfect 8-0 record (16-6 overall) en route to the Mountain West regular-season title. Wyoming (14-7, 5-3 MWC) captured the No. 3 seed after winning a head-to-head tiebreaker with BYU (9-12, 5-3). The 71st-ranked Cougars claimed the No. 4 spot, while No. 75 San Diego State (12-10, 4-4 MWC) will be the No. 5 seed after winning a head-to-head tiebreaker with No. 67 TCU (7-16, 4-4). The Horned Frogs will be the No. 6 seed. Rounding out the bracket is No. 8 seed Colorado State (7-14, 1-7 MWC) and No. 9 seed New Mexico (1-20, 0-8 MWC).
2010 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
Thursday, April 2912:30 p.m. PTQuarterfinal Match #1No. 1 Utah vs. CSU
12:30 p.m. PTQuarterfinal Match #2No. 4 BYU vs. No. 5 San Diego State
4 p.m. PTQuarterfinal Match #3No. 2 UNLV vs. No. 7 Air Force
4 p.m. PTQuarterfinal Match #4No. 3 Wyoming vs. No. 6 TCU
Friday, April 302 p.m. PTSemifinal Match #1Utah/CSU Winner vs. BYU/SDSU Winner
2 p.m. PTSemifinal Match #2UNLV/AFA Winner vs. WYO/TCU Winner
Saturday, May 12 p.m. PTChampionship Match
