Courtesy of UNLV Athletics –
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV women’s tennis team will play in the final of the Mountain West Championship for the seventh straight time following a unusually cold, late-night 4-0 victory over San Jose State Friday at the Darling Tennis Center.
After desert rains forced the match to be delayed for nearly seven hours, the fourth-seeded Rebels finally took to the courts and improved to 16-7 overall while the eighth-seeded Spartans ended their season at 15-8.
Since the event’s inception in 2000, retiring head coach Kevin Cory has led his program to a sparkling 44-15 record in MW tournament play as he added to his league-record career win total. The Rebels won it all last year and own seven overall MW tournament titles – the most of any school.
UNLV, which escaped San Jose, California, with a 4-3 win during the regular season, was laser-focused in tonight’s rematch, easily taking the doubles point and then winning five of six first sets in singles play.
Salsa Aher and Aura Fang breezed by Carolina Millan and Olaya Iglesias, 6-1, on court three before Cindy Hu and Coco Zhao improved to 20-6 on the year by downing Rozalina Youseva and Jovana Babic, 6-2, at the second spot to clinch the 1-0 lead.
In singles, Aher notched her team-leading 19th win with a dominating 6-2, 6-1 effort over Muradyan at No. 2; Fang made it 3-0 Rebels with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Iglesias at No. 6; and senior Zita Kovacswrapped things up with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Carolina Millan at the top of the lineup.
REBEL OF THE MATCH: Aher avenged a straight-set loss to Muradyan earlier this month with an impressive straight-set win of her own after helping UNLV dominate doubles.
QUOTABLE: “We had a great start in doubles tonight and then carried that over to singles. Really proud of the effort after such a long rain delay. San Jose State is tough to beat. Chad (Skorupka) has built a really good program there.”
-UNLV Head Coach Kevin Cory
UP NEXT: UNLV advances to Saturday’s final against either top-seeded San Diego State or Colorado State. Those two teams were seemingly just a few points away from finishing their semifinal “?
when a thunderstorm halted the match, which will now be completed Saturday morning. The subsequent final will start 90 minutes following, at approximately 11:30 a.m., at the Darling Tennis Center. For complete coverage of the 2024 Mountain West Women’s Tennis Championship, visit Championship Central TheMW.com.
Women‘s Tennis Match Results
Mountain West Tournament – Semifinal
(4) UNLV 4, (8) SAN JOSE STATE 0
April 26, 2024, at Las Vegas, NV
(Darling Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Zita Kovacs (UNLV) def. Carolina Millan (SJSU) 6-4, 6-4
2. Salsa Aher (UNLV) def. Irena Muradyan (SJSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Cindy Hu (UNLV) vs. Cheuk Ying Shek (SJSU) 5-7, 1-3, unfinished
4. Coco Zhao (UNLV) vs. Rozalina Youseva (SJSU) 6-4, 3-5, unfinished
5. Nikol Mircheva (UNLV) vs. Jovana Babic (SJSU) 6-3, 4-2, unfinished
6. Aura Fang (UNLV) def. Olaya Iglesias (SJSU) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Zita Kovacs/Hanna Vinahradava (UNLV) vs. Irena Muradyan/Cheuk Ying Shek (SJSU) 4-3,
unfinished
2. Cindy Hu/Coco Zhao (UNLV) def. Rozalina Youseva/Jovana Babic (SJSU) 6-2
3. Salsa Aher/Aura Fang (UNLV) def. Carolina Millan/Olaya Iglesias (SJSU) 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,6,1)