UNLV Advances to MWC Women's Tennis Finals

Rebels sweep New Mexico for 16th victory of season

Women's Tennis Home HEADLINES Four MWC Tennis Teams Receive ITA Academic Accolades New Mexico's Mackenzie White Earns ITA Central Region Arthur Ashe Award TCU's Nina Munch-Soegaard Earns All-America Acclaim RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college tennis action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

April 25, 2008

FORT WORTH, Texas -

• 2008 MWC Tennis Championship Central

The two-seeded UNLV rebels earned a trip to the finals of the 2008 Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Championships on Friday with a 4-0 win over No. 3 New Mexico at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The Rebels improved to 16-8 this season with the victory.

The New Mexico duo of Mackenzie White and Jennifer Ryba led off doubles play with an 8-4 win over Katy Williams and Anna Maskaljun at the No. 2 position, while the 37th-ranked UNLV duo of Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva answered with an 8-3 defeat of Ola Abou-Zekry and Lucy Scott at the top spot.

New Mexico's Emma Hayman and Victoria Tessmar took a 7-4 lead at the No. 3 position before UNLV's Sharon Marin and Alisa Razina mounted a furious comeback to force a tiebreaker, where they would earn a 9-8(5) victory to clinch the point.

UNLV received straight-sets victories at the bottom three singles positions to seal the match.

Maskaljun defeated Hayman at the No. 4 slot by a score of 6-2, 6-3, while Williams followed with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Ryba at the No. 5 position to put the Rebels up 3-0.

Adrienn Hidvegi kept UNLV's title hopes alive with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Maria Sotirchos at the No. 6 spot to clinch the contest.

The Rebels will face the winner of Friday's semifinal match between No. 1 TCU and No. 3 Utah in the finals on Saturday at 2 p.m. CDT.

No. 2 UNLV (16-8) def. No. 3 New Mexico (15-9), 4-0

SINGLES

1. 1. No. 34 Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) vs. Ola Abou-Zekry (UNM) 6-4, 3-3, unf.
2. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) vs. Mackenzie White (UNM) 7-6(2), 0-4, unf.
3. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) vs. Lucy Scott (UNM) 6-1, 4-5, unf.
4. Anna Maskaljun (UNLV) def. Emma Hayman (UNM) 6-2, 6-3
5. Katy Williams (UNLV) def. Jennifer Ryba (UNM) 6-1, 6-2
6. Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) def. Maria Sotirchos (UNM) 6-1, 6-3

Order of Finish: 4, 5, 6*

DOUBLES

1. No. 37 Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Abou-Zekry/Scott (UNM) 8-3
1. White/Ryba (UNM) def. Williams/Maskaljun (UNLV) 8-4
2. Marin/Razina (UNLV) def. Hayman/Tessmar (UMM) 9-8(5)

Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*

*Clinching point