April 28, 2010
LAS VEGAS - UNLV tennis standout Kristina Nedeltcheva became only the second woman in school history to earn first team all-conference honors in both singles and doubles all four seasons on campus as the Mountain West Conference announced its annual awards late Wednesday.
Overall, the Lady Rebels tied a 1994 school record with a combined six honorees in singles and doubles. UNLV was the only program to have more than three singles players and also the only to have more than one doubles team on this year's list.
Nedeltcheva, a native of Sofia, Bulgaria, joined only three-time All-American Marianne Vallin (1994-97) in accomplishing the career sweep. Nedeltcheva is the school's all-time doubles leader with a 96-31 mark and is fourth in singles victories with an 88-39 record. Playing at the No. 1 position for the 33rd-ranked Lady Rebels, she currently boasts a 26-9 singles mark in her senior campaign (4-4 vs. MWC opponents) as well as 23-8 in doubles (5-3 vs. MWC). Nedeltcheva is ranked 50th in the nation in singles and 57th in doubles.
Joining her on the 2010 all-conference singles team were Jana Albers, Nives Pavlovic and Adrienn Hidvegi. Albers, a junior who transferred to UNLV from Nebraska before the season, is ranked 108th nationally in singles and 57th in doubles along with her partner Nedeltcheva. The native of Papenburg, Germany, is currently 21-12 (5-3 vs. MWC opponents) in singles and 21-8 (5-3) in doubles.
Pavlovic is a freshman from Belgrade, Serbia, who is 22-11 (6-2) in singles and 24-10 (6-2) in doubles. Also earning her first MWC honor was Budapest, Hungary, native Hidvegi, who is 26-6 overall in singles and went a sparkling 8-0 in MWC play as well as 22-9 in doubles (6-2).
Joining the top team of Nedeltcheva and Albers in being on honored for doubles was UNLV's No. 2 duo, Anna Maskaljun and Alisa Razina. The pair stand 24-5 overall and posted a 7-1 mark in conference play. It marked the first all-conference nod for both Maskaljun, a junior out of Talinn, Estonia, and Razina, a senior out of Riga, Latvia, who currently ranks third in program history with 81 all-time wins.
Second seeded UNLV (20-3 overall) opens its drive for a fourth MWC tournament title at home on Thursday when it faces Air Force beginning at 4 p.m. PT at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
