March 31, 2007
Ft. Worth, Texas – Despite a huge upset by the Lobos in the doubles action the No. 58 University of New Mexico women’s tennis team (7-8) suffered a 6-1 loss from No. 56 UNLV today in a neutral match.
In doubles action Lucy Scott and Sandra Zmak took the court together for the first time since the loss of senior Iva Gersic. Scott and Zmak played at the No. 1 doubles spot taking on the 35th ranked tandem of Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva. The No. 35 team was recently coming off a win over a 21st ranked Stanford doubles team but Scott and Zmak upset Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva in an 8-6 match to start out the day.
The Lobos started out the singles play ahead in over half of their matches but were unable to keep up their game and ended the singles action with only one win. Mackenzie White played an intense match at the No. 3 spot that truly tested her character. In the tie-breaker set White was down 7-2 when she fell on her hand bringing the score to 8-2. After an injury timeout she returned to the court barely able to hold on to her racket and fought back, full of heart, for a 5-7, 7-6, 14-12 victory over Nikol Dimitrova.
“I feel like we’re so close and that our effort is great,” said head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz. “We’re trying very, very hard. I feel like we’re going to get that win soon”
New Mexico will play their final match in Ft. Worth tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. taking on San Diego State University and looking for that win.
New Mexico 1, UNLV 6
Doubles
1. Zmak/Scott (UNM) def. Gantcheva/Nedeltcheva (UNLV) 8-6
2. Dimitrova/Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Abou-Zekry/Ryba (UNM) 8-5
3. Smith/Razina (UNLV) def. White/Quintal (UNM) 8-5
Singles
1. Elena Gantcheva (UNLV) def. Ola Abou-Zekry (UNM) 6-3, 7-6
2. Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) def. Sandra Zmak (UNM) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
3. Mackenzie White (UNM) def. Nikol Dimitrova (UNLV) 5-7, 7-6, 14-12
4. Claire Smith (UNLV) def. Lucy Scott (UNM) 7-5, 6-2
5. Linda Tempelfelde (UNLV) def. Nora Quintal (UNM) 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
6. Alisa Razina (UNLV) def. Jennifer Ryba (UNM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3