UNLV boasts the most successful women's tennis program in Mountain West history as its 12 combined regular-season and tournament championships – all coming under head coach Kevin Cory – easily lead the way since the league was born in fall 1999. In our continuing series this fall, we break down who was the best of the best with the Top Five Players of the Decade for Rebel Women's Tennis.

Here is our #RebelTop5:

 
5. Doubles Team of En-Pei Huang and Izumi Asano (2018-SA)

Two is better than one in this case and this powerhouse duo was just getting started when the pandemic shut down the season last spring. Huang and Asano still led the 2020 All-Mountain West Doubles Team after posting a 15-3 overall record, including a perfect 6-0 in dual matches. The pair won the program's first-ever ITA Regional Doubles championship last fall and then rose to as high as No. 13 in the nation before finishing ranked 20th overall. Next season we'll see just how high this dynamic duo can go!

4. Carol Yang (2016-17)

The big gun at the top of the lineup for her two seasons on campus, Yang led the 2016 Rebels to a Mountain West Tournament championship and a program-record winning percentage of .923 with a 24-2 overall mark. A four-time MW Player of the Week, the native of China was a two-time all-league honoree in singles and was ranked nearly her entire Rebel career, rising as high as No. 24 in the nation as a senior.

 

3. Aleksandra Josifoska (2011-14)

The 2013 Mountain West Player of the Year reached the NCAA Singles Championship during a junior campaign that featured a 34-9 singles record that tied her for the fourth-most wins in single-season history. A native of Macedonia, Josifoska finished a stunning 21-1 vs. MW opponents in a career that saw her rank fifth in school history in wins with a 103-35 clip. A five-time MW Player of the Week and four-time all-league singles honoree, she remains the only Rebel to win back-to-back ITA Regional Singles Championships.

2. Lucia Batta (2011-14)

The 2011 Mountain West Freshman of the Year followed that effort up by being named conference player of the year one spring later. One of only four Rebels to make more than one trip to the NCAA Singles Championship, Batta memorably won her first round match as a junior by extending her amazing individual winning streak to 28 matches with a 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4 victory over No. 51 Alexandra Cercone of Florida. That school record was a full nine matches longer than UNLV's previous longest winning streak. The only starting player in UNLV men's or women's tennis history to go undefeated in dual matches over an entire season (26-0), Batta also won the clinching match in UNLV's thrilling 4-3 NCAA Tournament victory over No. 27 Tulsa in 2013. An eight-time MW Player of the Week, Batta was all-league four times in singles and three times in doubles. Her 121 career singles wins fell just four short of the school's all-time record held by Hall of Famer Marianne Vallin.

 

1. Aiwen Zhu (2016-19)

This pick was easy as Zhu is one of the most honored players in UNLV's proud history of fielding a women's tennis team. Just the second Rebel in history to win at least one match in multiple NCAA Singles Championships, the Chinese star ranks fifth at her school in career singles wins with 103 and second in doubles victories with 90. The seven-time MW Player of the Week was named the conference MVP in both 2018 and '19 and capped her illustrious career by upsetting the nation's No. 26 player at the 2019 NCAA event. Zhu was named ITA Senior Player of the Year after becoming just the second Rebel to earn all-conference in both singles and doubles all four seasons on the court. In fact, Zhu became the first Rebel in history to earn an ITA regional award all four seasons. Reaching national rankings as high as 58th in singles and 37th in doubles, she was previously the 2018 Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award winner, the 2017 Player to Watch and the 2016 Freshman of the Year. Most impressive, however, was Zhu's leadership in pushing her team to a Mountain West championship every season on campus – a tournament title in 2016, back-to-back regular-season crowns as a sophomore and junior, and then BOTH during her farewell tour in 2019 – a delicious double-dip that was a first at UNLV and powered by our top player of the decade.