April 23, 2014
Box Score
FRESNO, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV women's tennis team won its opening match at the Mountain West Tournament Championship for the 13th consecutive year, 4-1 over Air Force on Wednesday at the Sierra Sport & Racquet Club.
The eighth-seeded Rebels improved to 11-10 on the season while the ninth-seeded Falcons ended their campaign at 13-9. UNLV will have tomorrow off before facing top-seeded Fresno State (13-8) on Friday beginning at 10 a.m. The semifinals are Saturday and the championship match will be Sunday at 10 a.m. Live scoring updates of UNLV matches will be available at www.unlvrebels.com.
The Rebels improved their all-time record at this event to 27-10 by taking the doubles point and then three of four completed singles matches.
Aleksandra Josifoska and Iren Kotseva downed Anastasia Hueffner and Marcelli Magday 8-5 at the No. 3 spot and Santa Shumilina and Lucia Batta won by the same score over Natasha Rizvi and Mary Meyers at No.1 to earn the doubles point.
In singles, Batta, ranked 75th in the nation, downed Tiffany Tran 6-1, 6-1 at the top of the lineup. The senior from Budapest, Hungary, improved to 26-9 on the season and tied former UNLV great Jolene Watanabe (1987-90) in second place at the school with 120 career singles wins. She is now five wins short of all-time leader Marianne Vallin (1994-97).
Fellow-senior Josifoska downed Meyers 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 and freshman Paola Artiga clinched it with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lily Forlini on court five.
For more information on the 2014 Mountain West Women's Tennis Championship, visit the Championship Central page http://www.themw.com/#!/page/championship_w-tennis.
UNLV WOMEN'S TENNIS RESULTSUNLV (8) 4, AIR FORCE (9) 1April 23, 2014, at Fresno, CA(Sierra Sport & Racquet Club)
Singles competition 1. #75 Lucia Batta (UNLV) def. Tiffany Tran (AF) 6-1, 6-12. Aleksandra Josifoska (UNLV) def. Mary Meyers (AF) 6-2, 6-13. Iren Kotseva (UNLV) vs. Natasha Rizvi (AF) 7-5, 4-1, unfinished4. Marcelli Magday (AF) def. Santa Shumilina (UNLV) 6-0, 6-45. Paola Artiga (UNLV) def. Lily Forlini (AF) 6-1, 6-36. Anett Ferenczi-Bako (UNLV) vs. Tracy Landram (AF) 3-6, 6-0, unfinished
Doubles competition 1. Santa Shumilina/Lucia Batta (UNLV) def. Natasha Rizvi/Mary Meyers (AF) 8-52. Paola Artiga/Alexis Garrett (UNLV) vs. Tiffany Tran/Lily Forlini (AF) 4-5, unfinished3. Aleksandra Josifoska/Iren Kotseva (UNLV) def. Anastasia Hueffner/Marcelli Magday (AF) 8-5Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,1,4,5)
