April 19, 2014

Box Score

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - Senior Day Photo Gallery

Saturday's Senior Day was a downer for the UNLV women's tennis team as it lost 5-2 to arch-rival San Diego State at a hot and sunny Fertitta Tennis Complex.

The Rebels closed out their regular season at 10-10 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West while the Aztecs improved to 11-12 and 4-1 in league play. UNLV, which is the defending champion of the conference tournament, will wait until Monday to learn its seeding and opponent at the annual event being played next week in Fresno, Calif.

Saturday was the last home match for the greatest duo in program history -- seniors Lucia Batta and Aleksandra Josifoska -- and the final results were mixed. Batta and her partner Santa Shumilina won their doubles match at the top spot in the lineup, 8-4 over Hailey Johnson and Dora Somoracz, but SDSU took the other two matches to earn a 1-0 lead.

Moving to singles, the hosts actually took a brief 2-1 lead as freshman Paola Artiga whitewashed Isabelle Hoorn 6-0, 6-0 on court six and Josifoska rolled past Kristin Buth 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2. That win gave Josifoska, the defending MW Player of the Year, a stunning career dual-match record of 26-1 in conference play. The native of Macedonia's lone MW dual-match loss came at San Diego State on April 17, 2011, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, at the hands of Julia Wais.

Batta, the 2012 MW Player of the Year, did not have as positive an ending at Fertitta, however. In a battle of ranked players at the top position, UNLV's other senior lost at home to a conference opponent in a dual match for the first time in her record-breaking career as No. 49 Laura Antonana swept 68th-ranked Batta 6-3, 6-3, as the Aztecs grabbed the final four points.

UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTSSAN DIEGO STATE 5, UNLV 2April 19, 2014, at Las Vegas, NV(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
Singles competition 1. #49 Laura Antonana (SDSU) def. #68 Lucia Batta (UNLV) 6-3, 6-32. Aleksandra Josifoska (UNLV) def. Kristin Buth (SDSU) 6-2, 6-03. Tami Nguyen (SDSU) def. Iren Kotseva (UNLV) 7-5, 7-54. Kennedy Davis (SDSU) def. Santa Shumilina (UNLV) 2-6, 6-0, 7-55. Dora Somoracz (SDSU) def. Kamelia Dimitrova (UNLV) 6-3, 6-36. Paola Artiga (UNLV) def. Isabelle Hoorn (SDSU) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles competition 1. Lucia Batta/Santa Shumilina (UNLV) def. Hailey Johnson/Dora Somoracz (SDSU) 8-42. Laura Antonana/Kristin Buth (SDSU) def. Aleksandra Josifoska/Iren Kotseva (UNLV) 8-53. Tami Nguyen/Isabelle Hoorn (SDSU) def. Kamelia Dimitrova/Alexis Garrett (UNLV) 8-3Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,2,5,1,3,4)