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No. 4 UNLV Defeats No. 5 Utah 5-0 in First Round Action
Host Rebels advance to face No. 1 seed San Diego State.
April 27, 2000
LAS VEGAS -- Playing in oppressive heat, 65th-ranked UNLV won all five completed matches vs. Utah and advanced in the first round of the inaugural Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Championship at the Fertitta Tennis Complex Thursday. With temperatures nearing more than 20 degrees above normal, the fourth-seeded Lady Rebels avoided doubles play by taking the first four singles matches in straight sets and then picking up a win at No. 6 when fifth-seeded Utah's Anna Stechert retired in the second set after suffering heat exhaustion. "I'm very happy with the way our team competed," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "I was nervous going in -- I thought Utah had the kind of team that could beat us, but this shows the character of our players, to be so decisive on all six courts." In a showdown of the league's top two players at the No. 1 spot, 28th-ranked Katarina Malec swept 63rd-ranked Megan Payne-Dorny, 6-2, 6-2. Malec, who is 12-2 vs. ranked opponents this season, improved to 33-5 overall and has won 13 straight singles matches. Also winning for UNLV were Veronica Goude at No. 2, Marianne Bakken at No. 3, Urska Radanovic at No. 4 and Amy Hadziosmanovic at No. 6. UNLV, which improved to 13-9 overall, 10-4 at home and 3-3 in the MWC, will play top-seeded San Diego State Friday at 2 p.m. Utah fell to 7-11 and 3-4 and will take on Air Force, which was a 6-0 loser to the Aztecs. "We have a great challenge in store for us Friday but also a great opportunity," Cory said. "If we play the way we did today, the sky is the limit."
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP (4) UNLV 5, (5) UTAH 0
SINGLES--
*Clinching Match
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