San Diego, Calif. (April 28, 2006) -- For the third-straight year the BYU women's tennis team will have a chance to claim the Mountain West Conference title after beating UNLV 4-2 Friday in the conference semifinal at the Barnes Tennis Center.
Consistency in doubles play has been a Cougar strength all season, and they relied on that strength again against the Rebels. The doubles duo of Olga Boulytcheva and Lauren Jones played as strong as it has all year, beating Cindy Treber and Meri Constanti 8-1 and nabbing their twelfth-straight doubles victory of the year. Following Boulytcheva and Jones, Jennifer Miccoli and Anastasia Sourkova edged out a 9-7 win over Elena Gantcheva and Sharon Margin to seal the important doubles point for BYU.
The Rebels refused to go out easy, and regrouped to stage a comeback. MWC Player of the Year and No. 12 Elena Gantcheva took the leadership role, beating No. 24 Olga Boulytcheva to bring the Rebels back. But BYU rallied together, with Anastasia Sourkova and Sofia Holden both posting straight-set wins to get the Cougars within one point of advancing to the final. With the Cougars up 3-2, Lauren Jones and Dolly Chang represented BYU's chances to take the match. Chang lost her first match 0-6, but stormed back in the second set to win 6-2 and take the match to a decisive third set. On court No. 2, Jones won her first set in an exciting 7-6 contest, and was neck-and-neck with Nikol Dimitrova in the second set. But in the end it was Chang, keeping the momentum from her second set win, who clinched a berth in the championship for BYU. Chang traded points with Claire Smith through four games and was finally able put Smith away, winning the next two games and taking the set and the match 0-6, 6-2, 6-4.
BYU, who came into the tournament as the No. 2 seed, now prepares for the MWC Championship match, which will be played Saturday April 29 at 2 p.m. The Cougars will face the winner of No. 1 TCU and No. 5New Mexico, who play later today.
BYU 4 UNLV 2
Doubles
1. A. Sourkova/J. Miccoli (BYU) def. E. Gantcheva/S. Marin (UNLV) 9-7
2. N. Dimitrova/C. Smith (UNLV) vs. S. Holden/D. Chang (BYU)7-4 (DNF)
3. O. Boulytcheva/L. Jones (BYU) def. C. Treber/M. Constanti (UNLV) 8-1
Singles
1. Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) 6-2, 6-3
2. Lauren Jones (BYU) vs. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 7-6 (10), 4-3 (DNF)
3. Anastasia Sourkova (BYU) def. Sharon Marin (UNLV) 6-2, 6-2
4. Sofia Holden (BYU) vs. Cindy Treber (UNLV) 6-1, 6-2
5. Dolly Chang (BYU) def. Claire Smith (UNLV) 0-6, 6-2, 6-4
6. Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Jennifer Miccoli (BYU)6-2, 6-0