UNLV roundup: Zhu advances to singles, doubles finals

UNLV senior Aiwen Zhu advanced to the Flight One singles championship and teamed with junior En-Pei Huang to move to the Flight One doubles final in the Rebel Invitational on Saturday at Fertitta Tennis Complex.

The individual tournament includes competitors from eight other teams: Air Force, Arizona, Iowa, Liberty, North Texas, Purdue, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

Zhu, ranked 49th nationally, downed Purdue’s Seira Shimizu 6-1, 6-2 and will face Iowa’s Samantha Mannix for the title.

Zhu and Huang, ranked 37th, downed North Texas’ Ivana Babic and Alexandra Heczey 6-1 and next face Texas A&M’s Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova in the final.

Other Rebels playing in the finals of their flights will be senior Anna Bogoslavets, who won 6-3, 6-2 over Arizona’s Camila Westbrooks in Flight Two; sophomore Izumi Asano, who advanced when Liberty’s Lara Soares retired in the first set in Flight Three; and Huang, who won 6-4, 6-4 over Iowa’s Adorabol Huckleby in Flight Four.

Asano and junior Samantha Li also won together in Flight Three of doubles to move into the final.

Doubles action starts at 10 a.m. Sunday, with singles to follow.

VOLLEYBALL

At Cox Pavilion, Taylor Slover had 13 kills and Jessica Gilbert 11 blocks for Fresno State, which halted a four-match win streak by the Rebels with a 3-1 victory.

Aubrey Folk had 10 kills and four blocks, Reagan Leonard 13 digs and Madelyn Halteman 43 assists for the Bulldogs (20-8, 12-3 Mountain West), who won by scores of 25-15, 22-25, 25-18, 25-21.

Mariena Hayden had 18 kills, 11 digs, four aces and two blocks for UNLV (19-9, 10-6), which hit at a .231 clip, with Fresno State hitting at .345.

Thea Sweder had 14 kills, Jillian Berg 10 digs and Antonette Rolda 48 assists for the Rebels in their final regular-season home match.