LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV's Aiwen Zhu and En-Pei Huang finished off a big weekend by capturing the doubles championship at the 17th Annual Freeman Memorial Women's Tennis Championships at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
 
The Rebel duo lost the first two games against Texas' Fernanda Labrana and Bojana Markovic but then ripped off six straight to take it, 6-2, on a beautiful Sunday morning on campus. The triumph marked UNLV's first singles or doubles title at the Freeman since the program began hosting this elite individual tournament in 2003.
 
Zhu, a senior, and Huang, a junior, came into the week unranked but rose as high as 59^th in the nation while playing together last season en route to a 24-8 mark. They downed a different doubles team from Texas on Friday and then upset a 43^rd-ranked duo from Pepperdine yesterday to advance.
 
The singles championship saw fourth-seeded and 53^rd-ranked Petra Granic of Texas rally to fight off Pepperdine's Adriana Lekaj, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
 
"This was a great weekend of high-level college tennis," said UNLV head coach Kevin Cory.
"It was nice to see Aiwen and En-Pei finish off with a big win over a good team from Texas to bring us our first ever championship at this prestigious event. We also competed extremely well each day against players from the elite teams in our sport so we are looking forward to the spring season getting underway."
 
Individual competitors this weekend hailed from teams that include half of the top dozen from the season's initial ITA rankings: No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 8 UCLA and No. 11 Florida.
 
UNLV will begin its dual season by traveling to Malibu, California, for the ITA Kickoff Weekend event. The Rebels open the two-day tournament by taking on host Pepperdine Saturday morning.
 
2019 FREEMAN MEMORIAL TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas, NV
TEAM KEY & CURRENT NATIONAL ITA RANKING
Stanford (STAN) 1
North Carolina (UNC) 3
Texas (TX) 6
Pepperdine (PEPP) 7
UCLA (UCLA) 8
Florida (UF) 11
UNLV (UNLV)
 
SINGLES FLIGHT ONE FINAL (Jan. 20)
(4) #53 Petra Granic (TX) def. Adriana Lekaj (PEPP) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
 
SINGLES FLIGHT TWO FINAL (Jan. 20)
Gabby Andrews (UCLA) def. Anastasia Iamachikine (PEPP) 6-4, 6-4
 
DOUBLES SEMIFINALS (Jan. 20)
Fernanda Labrana/Bojana Markovic (TX) def. Melissa Lord/Niluka Madurawe (STAN) 7-5
Eiwen Zhu/En-Pei Huang (UNLV) def. (3) #12 Jada Hart/Elysia Bolton (UCLA) by injury default (Sat.)
 
DOUBLES FINAL (Jan. 20)
Zhu/Huang (UNLV) def. Labrana/Markovic (TX) 6-2
 
SUNDAY ADDED SINGLES MATCHES (Jan. 20)
Sydney Berlin (UF) def. Alex Kalachova (UNLV) 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4)
Taylor Johnson (UCLA) def. Izumi Asano (UNLV) 6-4, 6-3
Katie Kubicz (UF) def. Connie Li (UNLV) 6-4, 6-4
Katie Poluta (TX) def. Anna Bogoslavets (UNLV) 4-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-3)
Anastasia Khartionova (UF) def. Satsuki Takamura (PEPP) 6-3, 7-5
Caroline Lampl (STAN) def. #63 Tijana Spasojevic (TX) 6-2, 6-4
#49 Anna Turati (TX) def. #11 Alysia Bolton (UCLA) 6-3, 6-1
 
SUNDAY ADDED DOUBLES MATCHES (Jan. 20)
Yee/Lampl (STAN) def. #41 Dimitrova/Jarlskog (UF) 6-2
#43 Failla/Iamachikine (PEPP) def. #6 Andrews/Broomfield (UCLA) 6-4
Granic/Spasojevic (TX) def. Lahey/Lekaj (PEPP) 7-6 (3)
Kalachova/Samantha Li (UNLV) def. Milovanovic/Takamura (PEPP) 7-5
Poluta/Turati (TX) def. Kharltonova/Zein (UF) 6-1
Miller/Altick (UCLA) def. Berlin/Kessler (UF) 7-5