April 15, 2011
Box Score
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The 43rd-ranked UNLV women's tennis team avenged its only regular-season Mountain West Conference loss of 2010 while at the same time knocking No. 55 Utah out of first place with a 4-3 neutral-site victory Friday afternoon at the Aztec Tennis Club.
The Lady Rebels improved to 17-4 overall and 6-0 in the MWC while the Utes saw their streak of regular-season victories in league play snapped at 13, dropping to 11-9 overall and 5-1 in the conference. Last season, Utah went undefeated in eight MWC matches while UNLV finished in second place at 7-1 after falling to the Utes 4-3 in Salt Lake City.
On Friday, UNLV had to rally after losing the doubles point. Utah won two of three matches with only the Lady Rebel duo of Anna Maskaljun and Lucia Batta winning, 8-2, on the second court.
In singles play, UNLV got quick victories from all three of its seniors to eventually draw even at 3-3. Anna Maskaljun won her 17th consecutive singles match, 6-3, 6-1 over Lexi Provancha at No. 6; Jana Albers downed Paige Miles 6-3, 7-5 at No. 5; and Adrienn Hidvegi came back against Lucia Kovarikova, 6-7, 6-1, 6-1, on court four. The match would come to the second position where freshman Aleksandra Josifoska improved her rookie record to 22-3 with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Evgenia Kryuchkova that included a thrilling 10-8 tiebreaker.
"This was a great conference battle between two very good teams that could have gone either way," said UNLV head coach Kevin Cory. "The toughness showed by Aleksandra to pull it out at the end was great to see."
The run of key matches continues on Saturday when UNLV faces BYU in San Diego beginning at noon. The Lady Rebels are now in a first-place tie with San Diego State and those two programs will meet each on Sunday in a match that may decide the 2011 regular-season championship.
Women's Tennis Match Results
#43 UNLV 4, #55 Utah 3
April 15, 2011, at San Diego
(Aztec Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #92 Anastasia Putilina (UTAH) def. #123 Lucia Batta (UNLV) 7-5, 6-4
2. Aleksandra Josifoska (UNLV) def. Evgenia Kryuchkova (UTAH) 6-3, 7-6 (10-8)
3. Sarah Pham (UTAH) def. Nives Pavlovic (UNLV) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1
4. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) def. Lucia Kovarcikova (UTAH) 6-7, 6-1, 6-1
5. Jana Albers (UNLV) def. Paige Miles (UTAH) 6-3, 7-5
6. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Lexi Provancha (UTAH) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Anastasia Putilina/Paige Miles (UTAH) def. Aleksandra Josifoska/Nives Pavlovic (UNLV) 9-7
2. Anna Maskaljun/Lucia Batta (UNLV) def. Lexi Provancha/Evgenia Kryuchkova (UTAH) 8-2
3. Lucia Kovarcikova/Sarah Pham (UTAH) def. Jana Albers/Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) 8-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,5,3,1,4,2)
