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Saturday Showdown Set
UNLV women's tennis looks for MWC crown after dropping UNM in semifinals.
April 26, 2002
PROVO, Utah - The 19th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team will look to win its second Mountain West Conference championship in three years as it advanced through Friday's semifinals 4-1 over No. 55 New Mexico at the BYU Tennis Center.
The second-seeded Lady Rebels improved to 19-3 overall and 8-1 in the league. The third-seeded Lobos fell to 13-10 and 6-3.
UNLV, which is now 10-3 vs. ranked teams this spring, opened the day by taking the two completed doubles matches for one point. Winning were the teams of Paulina Janus and Agnieszka Abram at No. 1 and Marianne Bakken and Gyogyi Zsiros at No. 2.
In singles play, UNLV got three straight-set wins to end it. Janus, ranked 91st, crushed Tjasa Suvak 6-0, 6-0 at the top spot. Bakken then made it 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Courtney Choate on court six. UNM got on the board with Tiffany Roberston's 6-3, 6-2 win over Tracie Chong at No. 4 before Leentjie Oosthuizen clinched it with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Rachel Hatley at No. 5.
"This was a great performance," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "I have a lot of respect for New Mexico, so to come out and win decisively says a lot about the character of our team. I was particularly impressed with three players - Marianne Bakken, who is back in the swing of things, Paulina Janus who was just dominant and Leentjie Oosthuizen who after missing a month (with mononucleosis) has played great tennis in this tournament."
UNLV, which has won six straight, will face top seed San Diego State in Saturday's championship after the Aztecs cruised past host BYU 4-1 in the other semifinal. The Lady Rebels fell to SDSU 4-3 when the two schools met March 28 in San Diego but UNLV was missing Oosthuizen in the lineup.
"We have a big day Saturday and hopefully we'll be ready to meet the challenge," Cory said. "I expect a real battle."
2002 MWC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
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