May 10, 2016

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - Fresh from a conference tournament title, UNLV women's tennis earned three regional awards from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) this week.

It marked just the second time in program history that UNLV took as many as three of the awards (1997 head coach, assistant coach and senior of the year).

Tim Nichols, who is in his second year with the program, was named ITA Assistant Coach of the Year for the Mountain Region after helping lead the Rebels to their current 24-1 overall record under had coach Kevin Cory. Nichols is the fourth Rebel to earn assistant coach of the year and the first since 2012.

Senior Iren Kotseva was named the ITA Most Improved Player after posting a 15-1 mark in singles, including two clinching matches in the team's Mountain West Championship run in Fort Collins.

Junior Carol Zi Yang, who has been nationally ranked since January and currently is at No. 120 in singles, was named the Mountain Region ITA Player to Watch. She sits 21-7 in singles and 18-5 in doubles and was named All-Mountain West Conference in both. Yang is only the second UNLV woman to earn the honor, joining Elena Gantcheva in 2006.

All three will now be considered for the national ITA award along with the winners from the other 11 regions.

UNLV opens play in the NCAA Tournament on Friday with a first round match against USC in Malibu, Calif., starting at 10 a.m.