SAN DIEGO (UNLVRebels.com) – The top-seeded UNLV women's tennis team will play in the semifinals of the Mountain West Championship for the fourth straight year after posting a 4-0 quarterfinal win over San Jose State Thursday at the Aztec Tennis Center.
 
The regular-season champion Rebels won their sixth straight outing to improve to 15-6 overall and 6-0 against MW opponents in 2019. The Spartans ended their season at 11-10 overall.
 
The Rebels started by winning a close doubles session, earning victories on courts one and three, to forge a 1-0 lead. Moving to singles, UNLV showed its lineup depth by getting straight-set wins on courts one, three and six to clinch the victory.
 
REBEL OF THE MATCH: Two-time MW Player of the Year Aiwen Zhu was dominant, teaming with En-Pei Huang for a 6-3 win at the top of the doubles lineup and then racing past Tamara Culibrk, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 1 singles spot to give her team its second point of the day.
 
NET NOTES: UNLV shut out its opponent for the fifth time in the last six matches … The Rebels have now reached at least the semifinals of the conference postseason event for the 18th time in the league's 20 years of existence … Zhu, ranked 104^th in the nation, notched her 99^th career singles win and can become the sixth Rebel in history to break the century mark with one more victory … Zhu also needs two more doubles wins to move into a tie with Anna Maskaljun (2008-11) for second all-time at the school with 90.
 
QUOTABLE: "We knew San Jose State would be a tough matchup for us so it was good to come out with the W. Now we have to turn around and be ready for another big one tomorrow."
-UNLV Head Coach Kevin Cory
 
NEXT FOR THE REBELS: UNLV will face fifth-seeded Wyoming, which upset fourth-seeded New Mexico 4-2 Thursday, starting at 10 am in Friday's semifinal round. The Rebels, who has not played Wyoming this season, improved to 7-0 against the Cowgirls in MW Championship history with last year's 4-2 win in the semifinals held in Boise, Idaho. Fans can watch a free live stream of the match at the Mountain West Championships page.
 
Women's Tennis Match Results
MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP - QUARTERFINALS
UNLV 4, SAN JOSE STATE 0
April 25, 2019, at San Diego
(Aztec Tennis Center)
 
Singles competition
1. #104 Aiwen Zhu (UNLV) def. CULIBRK, Tamara (SJSU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Izumi Asano (UNLV) vs. KOBAYASHI, Miyo (SJSU) 6-7 (3), 2-2, unfinished
3. En-Pei Huang (UNLV) def. PEDRERO GALINDO, Alb (SJSU) 7-5, 6-2
4. Anna Bogoslavets (UNLV) vs. SENDAR, Savannah (SJSU) 3-6, 3-4, unfinished
5. Jovana Kenic (UNLV) vs. MALSERT, Laura (SJSU) 2-6, 5-4, unfinished
6. Connie Li (UNLV) def. VIDGREN, Mathilda (SJSU) 6-4, 6-1
 
 Doubles competition
1. #74 Aiwen Zhu/En-Pei Huang (UNLV) def. SENDAR, Savannah/MALSERT, Laura (SJSU) 6-3
2. KOBAYASHI, Miyo/PEDRERO GALINDO, Alb (SJSU) def. Connie Li/Samantha Li (UNLV) 6-2
3. Izumi Asano/Anna Bogoslavets (UNLV) def. CULIBRK, Tamara/VIDGREN, Mathilda (SJSU) 6-3
 
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (1,6,3)