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Tennis Teams Look To Net Titles
Rebels' men's and women's squads begin MWC championship play Thursday.
April 25, 2001 LAS VEGAS - UNLV's men's and women's tennis teams, both seeded third, will begin play at their respective Mountain West Conference championship tournament Thursday.
Playing in Salt Lake City, the 49th-ranked men's team (11-9) will face sixth-seed Air Force in the first round. The winner will advance to take on second-seeded New Mexico on Thursday as the Lobos earned a first-round bye at the six-team event.
"We are back to being relatively healthy and have six players ready to compete for the first time since mid-March," said head coach Larry Easley, whose undermanned team lost its last three regular-season matches. "The altitude in Utah will be factor but we definitely have a shot at winning it."
The Rebels, currently the highest-ranked team in the MWC, are looking for their first conference crown since taking the Big West title in 1996. The team is led by senior Nenad Zivkovic (17-9), who is ranked 92nd in the nation in singles but is expected to earn his first trip to the NCAA Championships.
The 55th-ranked women's team (9-11), which finished 5-2 in the MWC, including winning its last four league matches, will travel to Fort Collins, Colo., to defend its conference championship. The Lady Rebels, who won the program's first-ever league crown a year ago, will open against sixth-seeded Colorado State at the eight-team event.
"This is a wide-open conference and anyone can win it, we proved that last year, because we were the fourth seed," head coach Kevin Cory said.
The Lady Rebels are led by Paulina Janus, who is ranked 68th in singles. Both tournaments run through Saturday and the winners earn an automatic berth into a NCAA regional.
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