Staff Report
With a No. 2 seed and two Mountain West Conference Players of the Year, the deck was stacked in UNM's favor heading into its semifinal match against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
UNLV had some aces up its sleeve, though.
The Runnin' Rebels defeated the Lobos 4-2 on Friday to end UNM's hopes of gaining an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
MWC Players of the Year Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic lost their doubles match to give UNLV the doubles point, after Tiffany Robertson and Michelle Heidbrink won at the No. 2 spot and Nora Quintal and Lucy Scott lost at the No. 3 spot.
The UNM tandem of Kovacek and Gersic was ranked No. 8 in the country, while their opponents Elena Gantcheva and Sharon Marin were unranked in doubles.
The Lobos put their fate in the selection committee's hands by not winning the MWC tournament and will wait to see if they get an at-large bid Wednesday.
The Runnin' Rebels went on to lose in the finals to No. 1-seeded Brigham Young, 4-2.
On the singles side of the Lobos' match, UNM won two of the five matches. Kovacek, ranked No. 46 in the country, upset the No. 28-ranked Gantcheva, who also received the MWC Freshman of the Year award.
No points were doled out in the No. 2 singles match, as Gersic and Gvorgyi Zsiros didn't get to finish. Play was stopped with the two players tied at one set apiece and 2-2 in the third set.
Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis defeated Heidbrink at the No. 3 spot, 6-2, 6-3. Quintal took down Sharon Marin at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 6-4, while Cindy Treber trumped Scott at the No. 5 spot, 6-2, 6-2.
Claire Smith sealed the deal for UNLV with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 against Robertson at the No. 6 spot.
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UNM finished the regular season with a 15-9 overall record.
