Local colleges: UNLV women’s tennis falls to Nebraska in NCAA tourney

UNLV lost to Nebraska 4-1 on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA women’s tennis tournament at Lincoln, Neb. The 57th-ranked Rebels finished their season at 20-8.

No. 16 Nebraska (24-5) took two of the three doubles matches for the first point, then won three singles matches.

UNLV’s lone victory came at No. 2 singles, with 59th-ranked Lucia Batta beating Patricia Veresova, 6-3, 6-2. Batta finished the season 27-0 in dual matches, the first UNLV men’s or women’s player to ever go undefeated.

This was just the Rebels’ third trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They upset No. 27 Tulsa 4-3 on Friday.

“Nebraska outplayed us today in some difficult (windy) conditions, and they certainly earned their seed,” UNLV coach Kevin Cory said. “I think we were a little tired after a hard-fought battle yesterday. Overall, this trip was a good ending to the year.”

Batta and No. 1 singles player Aleksandra Josifoska will play in the NCAA singles tournmament later this month.

■ UNLV WOMEN’S GOLF — At Stanford, Calif., the Rebels tied for 15th at the NCAA West Regional in Stanford, Calif. UNLV shot 47-over 899 for the three-day tournament, including 9-over 293 in the final round.

Dana Finkelstein shot 1-under 70 for the Rebels to finish tied for 10th at 3-over 216. Southern California’s Annie Park and Purdue’s Paula Reto shared the individual title at 7-under 277.

“The team played well in the final round of the season,” Rebels coach Amy Bush said. “Playing at a regional is always a great learning experience.”

Southern California won the team title at 4-under 280, one stroke ahead of Purdue. The top eight teams in the 24-team regional advanced to the NCAA Championships, May 21-24 in Athens, Ga.

■ UNLV BASEBALL — At Reno, the Rebels beat UNR 5-1 despite finishing with only three hits. UNLV (33-17, 15-11 Mountain West) will go for the three-game sweep over UNR (24-26, 11-15) at 1 p.m. today.

UNLV starter Buddy Borden (7-1) allowed just one run over seven innings, scattering eight hits. His ERA dropped to 2.16.

UNR starter Tyler Wells (4-4) struck out four batters in the first inning, but the Rebels scored two runs on two errors and a wild pitch. Three Wolf Pack errors in the fifth helped UNLV take a 5-0 lead.

■ UNLV SOFTBALL — At San Diego, the Rebels lost to San Diego State 2-1 in the season finale. UNLV’s lone run came in the sixth on Heather Harrison’s RBI single.

The loss ended the Rebels’ season at 21-31, 7-11 in the Mountain West, while the Aztecs (35-18, 13-5) won the conference title. The Mountain West doesn’t play a conference tournament.

■ UNLV TRACK AND FIELD — The Rebels finished fourth in the Mountain West women’s outdoor track and field championships at Sheila Tarr-Smith Field. San Diego State won the women’s title, and Air Force was the men’s champion.

Emily Blok paced UNLV, taking second in both the 100-meter dash (11.36 seconds) and the 200 (23.23). Blok was 0.02 seconds behind San Diego State’s LaQuisha Jackson in both races. The Rebels’ Uchechi Anunkor was third in the 100 in 11.48.

The Rebels also got second-place finishes from Monay Meggs in the 400 and from the 4x100 relay team.

UNLV’s Auzsane Crowe-Carter was third in the 800, and the Rebels’ 1,600-meter relay team also took third.

■ CSN BASEBALL — Phil Belding threw a four-hit complete game to lead Western Nevada to a 6-0 victory over College of Southern Nevada in the Region XVIII baseball championship game at Morse Stadium.

The loss ended top-seeded CSN’s season at 40-17. Second-seeded Western Nevada (41-18) advances to the Western District Championship, which begins Thursday.

Morgan Stotts led the Coyotes, going 2-for-4, and Evan Van Hoosier and Bobby Shiroky each went 1-for-3. Cole Ferguson was 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Western Nevada, with his first-inning RBI single providing the only run the Wildcats ended up needing.