April 30, 2010

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - The 33rd-ranked and second-seeded UNLV women's tennis team, which posted its best home record in history during the regular season at 16-0, tasted defeat at Fertitta for the first time in 2010 as sixth-seeded TCU won 4-3 in Friday's semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Championships.

The Lady Rebels dropped to 21-4 overall and did not reach the championship match for the first time since 2006. The 64th-ranked Horned Frogs improved to 9-16 en route to earning a third consecutive trip to the MWC finals, where they will take on fifth-seeded San Diego State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Enjoying wonderful Las Vegas weather, TCU dominated doubles play to earn a 1-0 lead. The Frogs took matches on courts one and two by the same score of 8-3 before the No. 3 match was halted. It was a rough start for UNLV, which won the doubles point the first time these two programs met here on April 10 and the Lady Rebels prevailed 4-3 to finish off only their second undefeated home season in history.

Moving to singles play, the Lady Rebels again came out sluggish at spots before rallying to take a 3-1 lead. Anna Maskaljun got her team on the board by downing Shalini Sahoo 6-3, 6-3 at the fifth spot. In the only matchup of ranked players, Kristina Nedeltcheva, ranked 50th, downed No. 56 Nina Munch-Soegaard, 7-5, 6-3, at the top of the lineup. Adrienn Hidvegi then finished off Idunn Hertzberg 6-4, 6-4 on court four.

That was it for the home team, however, as TCU won in straight sets at Nos. 6 and 3 and then prevailed in the day's only three-set match, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 on court two to complete the upset.

"We had talked about how critical the doubles point was going to be and again it decided the match," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "TCU played a great match and they deserve a lot of credit. We'll regroup and look forward to finding out where we are going for the NCAA tournament.

"It's certainly disappointing that our week ended a day earlier than we hoped but I'd like to thank all of our staff and administration for their help in hosting this tournament and to the Mountain West Conference staff for putting on such a great event."

UNLV awaits word on its expected at-large bid to the NCAA Championships when the field is announced Tuesday afternoon.

2010 MWC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMFINALS#64 TCU (6) 4, #33 UNLV (2) 3April 30, 2010, at Las Vegas(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
Singles competition1. #50 Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. #56 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) 7-5, 6-32. Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) def. #108 Jana Albers (UNLV) 6-3, 4-6, 6-13. #113 Kayla Duncan (TCU) def. Nives Pavlovic (UNLV) 6-0, 7-54. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) def. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) 6-4, 6-45. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Shalini Sahoo (TCU) 6-3, 6-36. Gaby Mastromarino (TCU) def. Rumyana Terzieva (UNLV) 6-1, 7-5
Doubles competition1. #47 Tuohimaa/Duncan (TCU) def. #58 Nedeltcheva/Albers (UNLV) 8-32. Munch-Soegaard/Hertzberg (TCU) def. Alisa Razina/Maskaljun (UNLV) 8-33. Pavlovic/Hidvegi (UNLV) vs. Mastromarino/Maria Babanova (TCU) 5-6, unfinishedOrder of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (5,1,4,6,3,2)