Weekly Women's Tennis Release #2

BYU's Chiew and UNLV's Malic ranked 22nd and 23rd in the nation, respectively. (2/10)

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Feb. 10, 2000

National Rankings:

Mtn. West Teams in Top-75
(Feb. 9)

Rk  Pvs   School      Rec
29  t29   New Mexico  3-3
54  t43   SDSU        1-1
57  58    UNLV        0-0
59  57    BYU         0-2

Rk   Pvs   Individual
22   46    Eline Chiew, BYU
23   NR    Katarina Malec, UNLV
t44  40    Ana Friganovic, UNM
t71  NR    Lindsey Hedberg, SDSU
81   75    Megan Payne, UTAH
t101 NR    Natalia Alekhova, UNM

Athlete of the Week:

Megan Payne-Dorny * Sr. * Utah
University of Utah senior Megan Payne-Dorny is the Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week. A product of Dixie High in St. George, Utah, Payne-Dorny, remained undefeated in singles play by posting two victories and going 1-1 in doubles action. As a team, Utah suffered its first two losses of the season, falling to No. 34 Washington State, 7-2, on Feb. 4, then narrowly losing to No. 66 Colorado, 5-4, on Feb. 6.

Ranked No. 81 in the nation in singles, Payne-Dorny competes in the No. 1 position for both singles and doubles. She improved to 5-0 in singles dual matches and 11-6 overall on the season. In double play she is 3-1 in duals with current partner Cassie Kasteller and stands 7-3 in all doubles action.

This week, she claimed both singles matches in straight sets defeating Washington State's Patryoja Gajdzik (6-1, 6-4), then Colorado's Jessica Garrow (6-3, 6-2). Payne-Dorny teamed with Kasteller for a split in doubles matches. The duo lost to WSU's team of Gajdzik/Pine, 8-6, but rebounded to defeat CU's tandem of Garrow/Lemperle, 8-5.

Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Players of the Week: Feb. 2 - Katarina Malec (Sr.) UNLV, Feb. 9 - Megan Payne-Dorny (Sr.) Utah.

UNLV Host of 2000 Mtn. West Women's Tennis Championship
The inaugural Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Championship will be hosted by UNLV in Las Vegas, Nev. All eight Mtn. West women's tennis teams will compete in the single-elimination team event for the first league title April 27-29. Seedings will be decided by regular-season dual match results in conference matches.

All requests for media credentials for the inaugural Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Championship should be submitted in writing to Director of Communications Elaine Adams at the Mtn. West office or UNLV Media Relations contact Mark Wallington prior to the event.

Team-by-Team Notes

Air Force begins the spring portion of its women's tennis schedule on Feb. 12 hosting Montana State at 8 a.m. and Colorado College at 1 p.m. BYU opens Mtn. West action hosting two matches this weekend - UNLV will be in Provo on Feb. 11, then New Mexico on Feb. 12. After opening the season 1-1, including a league win over Utah, Colorado State remains idle until Feb. 18 at the New Mexico State Invitational. For the first time in the history of the program, New Mexico had two individuals compete in the prestigious Rolex National Indoor Championships this past week in Dallas. Both Ana Friganovic and Natalia Alekhova lost in the first round and consolation bracket, with Alekohova facing the No. 5 and 3 players in the nation. Later in the week, the Lobos swept both Texas Tech and their first conference foe, Wyoming, by identical 9-0 scores. San Diego State freshman Katja Karrento has won her first three collegiate matches, two singles and one doubles, despite the Aztecs' 1-1 start. SDSU plays at Stanford and Cal this week. Following a week off, UNLV will play three conference dual matches in as many day. The Rebels are at BYU on Friday, at Utah Saturday and at New Mexico Sunday. Although Utah suffered a pair of losses to ranked opponents last week, Megan Payne-Dorny remain undefeated at No. 1 singles for the Utes. Playing at New Mexico, Wyoming went 0-2, including its second conference loss to the Lobos. The Cowgirls will meet Montana State in Colorado Springs on Saturday.