UNLV women, men fall in semis of MWC tourney
The UNLV women's and men's tennis teams lost semifinal matches Friday in the Mountain West Conference Championships at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
The second-seeded women's team lost for the first time at home this season, falling to sixth-seeded Texas Christian, 4-3. The sixth-seeded men were eliminated by second-seeded San Diego State, 4-0.
The UNLV women (21-4) failed to reach the MWC championship match for the first time since 2006. The Rebels were 16-0 at home before stumbling against TCU (9-16), which will be making its third straight finals appearance when it meets fifth-seeded San Diego State at 2 p.m. today. The Aztecs upset top-seeded Utah, 4-1.
Kristina Nedeltcheva (No. 1), Adrienn Hidvegi (No. 4) and Anna Maskaljun (No. 5) posted singles victories for UNLV, which is expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships on Tuesday.
"We had talked about how critical the doubles point was going to be, and again it decided the match," Rebels coach Kevin Cory said.
Mehdi Bouras and Luca Barlocchi won at No. 1 doubles for the UNLV men (13-12), but San Diego State (13-12) won every other match.
The Aztecs will meet fourth-seeded TCU, which upset top-seeded Brigham Young 4-2, in the final at 10 a.m. today.
