IN BRIEF

COLLEGES

Rebels upset Aztecs in MWC baseball tourney

The sixth-seeded UNLV baseball team upset third-seeded San Diego State 6-2 Tuesday to open the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.

Braden Walker delivered a bases-loaded, two-run single in the top of the ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie, and Steve Rinaudo followed with a fly ball that Aztecs left fielder Brandon Decker lost in the sun, resulting in two more runs.

UNLV (22-35) will face top-seeded Texas Christian at 5 p.m. today in the six-team, double-elimination tournament. The Horned Frogs (39-16) are the two-time defending champions.

Also: The UNLV women's golf team struggled in the first round of the NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., shooting 26-over-par 314 to stand last in the 24-team field.

Southern California led with a 4-under 284 total.

Therese Koelbaek, the West Regional co-medalist, shot 3-over 75 to lead the Rebels and was tied for 53rd. Wake Forest's Nannette Hill led at 5-under 67.

UNLV women's tennis player Elena Gantcheva, ranked 36th, will open play in the NCAA Singles Championship today in Tulsa, Okla. Gantcheva will face third-ranked Hilary Barte of Stanford.

On Thursday, Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva will take part in the doubles tournament, facing 12th-ranked Susie Babos and Stephanie Kusano of California. Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva are ranked 35th.

In the team tournament, UCLA beat California 4-0 for the women's title, and Georgia beat Texas 4-2 in the men's final.

New UNLV women's basketball coach Kathy Olivier has hired two assistants.

Caitlin Collier joined the Rebels after 11 years as coach at Menlo (Calif.) College. Kari Duperron, who was on Olivier's staff at UCLA, also was hired.

DOPING AND SPORTS

Russian track standout draws two-year ban

Russia's Tatyana Lysenko, the world-record holder in the women's hammer throw, was banned for two years by track and field's governing body for a doping violation.

Another Russian hammer thrower, Ekaterina Khoroshikh, received the same ban. Both tested positive for a prohibited hormone blocker during an out-of-competition test in Moscow in May 2007.

Lysenko also was stripped of her record throw of 257 feet, 11 inches, made a few weeks after the test samples were taken. She still has the world record at 255-3, set in August 2006.

Also: Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo faces a possible two-year ban for doping when his case, stemming from a positive EPO test at the 2007 Tour de France, comes before sport's highest court today in Lausanne, Switzerland.

MISCELLANEOUS

Davenport withdraws from French Open

Former No. 1 women's tennis player Lindsay Davenport pulled out of the French Open, the only Grand Slam singles event that she hasn't won.

Tournament organizers said the 31-year-old Californian withdrew for "personal reasons," without elaborating.

The French Open will start Sunday.

Also: Lloyd Moore, a NASCAR winner in 1950 and the oldest former driver, has died in Frewsburg, N.Y., according to NASCAR's Web site. He was 95.

Landon Donovan was among 22 players picked for the U.S. men's soccer team's exhibition game at England next week and could make his 100th international appearance in the match, to be played at Wembley Stadium.