LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Players from four teams will join UNLV for this weekend's Jolene Watanabe Classic at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on campus.
                                                
Long Beach State, UTSA, NAU and Utah Tech will all send representatives to take on the Rebel contingent starting Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
 
The players on-hand will make up four, eight-player singles draws and two, eight-team doubles draws. Admission to all matches is free of charge.
 
The annual fall invitational was renamed in 2021 to honor former UNLV great Jolene Watanabe, who put the UNLV women's tennis program on the map three decades ago and passed away in 2019 after a battle with cancer at the age of 50.
 
A native of La Puente, California, Watanabe ("wah-tah-NAH-bee"), who holds the distinction of being the first Rebel to forge a successful career on the professional tennis tour, played in Las Vegas from 1987-90 and left as the program's career leader in singles victories with 120 and doubles wins with 84.
 
Winner of the Big West Conference Player of the Year Award in 1990, Watanabe became the first UNLV women's player to qualify for the NCAA singles championship that same year. She retired in 2001 after an 11-year career on the WTA circuit. Having reached at least the second round in all four Grand Slam events, her tournament championships came throughout the world from Italy to Mexico. Watanabe reached as high as No. 72 in singles and 142 in doubles.
 
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Friday – Doubles Quarterfinals followed by Singles Quarterfinals
Saturday – Doubles Semifinals followed by Singles Semifinals
Sunday – Doubles Final followed by Singles Finals