SALT LAKE CITY (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV's top doubles team won twice more on Friday during the third day of competition at the 2023 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mountain Region Women's Championships being hosted by the University of Utah.
 
Members from 19 western teams are facing off each day in singles and doubles at the Eccles Tennis Center.
 
Fourth-seeded Salsa Aher and Zita Kovacs first got by 15th-seeded Marcella Lopez and Katherine Lyman from host Utah, 8-7 (7-5 in the tiebreaker). Later in the day, the Rebel duo won a quarterfinal match, 8-5, over Caroline Driscoll and Anastasia Siminov of Denver to advance to Saturday's semifinals vs. seventh-seeded Andrea Beltran and Britt Pursell – also of DU. The finals are set for Sunday.
 
In consolation play, UNLV's contingent lost three matches in singles and split a pair of doubles matches.
 
More than 8,000 student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, Junior and Community Colleges compete across 85 ITA Regional Championships around the country. In Division I, regional doubles champions and regional singles champions and finalists qualify for the season-ending ITA National Fall Championships.
 
TEAMS SENDING COMPETITORS
Air Force (AFA)
Boise State (BSU)
Brigham Young (BYU)
Colorado (CU)
Colorado State (CSU)
Denver (DU)
Idaho (ID)
Idaho State (ISU)
Montana (MT)
Montana State (MSU)
Nevada, Reno (UNR)
New Mexico (UNM)
Northern Arizona (NAU)
UNLV (UNLV)
Utah (UU)
Utah State (USU)
Utah Tech (UTT)
Weber State (WSU)
Wyoming (WYO)
 
UNLV RESULTS
DOUBLES ROUND OF 16
(4) Salsa Aher/Zita Kovacs (UNLV) def. (15) Marcella Lopez/Katherine Lyman (UU) 8-7 (5)
 
DOUBLES QUARTERFINALS
(4) Salsa Aher/Zita Kovacs (UNLV) def. Caroline Driscoll/Anastasia Siminov (DU) 8-5
 
SINGLES ADDED MATCHES
Victoria Erechtchenko (CSU) def. Cindy Hu (UNLV) 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6)
Kendall Kovick (BYU) def. Coco Zhao (UNLV) 6-0, 6-3
Yuhan Liu (UU) def. Zita Kovacs (UNLV) 6-0, 6-4
 
DOUBLES ADDED MATCHES
Tina Li/Madison Smith (BYU) def. Aura Fang/Nikol Mircheva (UNLV) 6-4
Cindy Hu/Coco Zhao (UNLV) def. Isabella Pitchford/Emma Kamper (UU) 6-2