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TCU'S Brink and UNLV's Gantcheva Named Mountain West Conference Tennis Players of the Week
April 30, 2008 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - TCU's Kriegler Brink and UNLV's Elena Gantcheva were named the final 2007-08 Mountain West Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Players of the Week, respectively. This marks the second overall weekly honor for Brink, while Gantcheva closes out her career with a record ninth women's award. Playing at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles, Brink helped the 36th-ranked Horned Frogs to their second Mountain West Conference Tournament title last week in Fort Worth, Texas. In the semifinals vs. BYU, he aided TCU's 4-0 shutout of the Cougars by clinching the doubles point while teaming with Emanuel Brighiu to defeat the duo of Jonathan Sanchez and A.J. Young (8-5), then going on to hand Cassidy Mears a 6-2, 6-1 loss in singles action. With the championship match vs. No. 44 New Mexico tied at 3-3, the junior from Gauteng, South Africa, capped off a TCU comeback by beating Graeme Kassautzki (5-7, 7-5, 6-4) to seal the title for the Frogs. Brink was 5-1 in singles play vs. MWC opponents during the regular season.
Playing at the top position in both singles and doubles, Gantcheva guided No. 54 UNLV to its third Mountain West Conference Tournament championship last week in Fort Worth, Texas. In the Rebels' 4-1 quarterfinal victory over Colorado State, the senior from Sofia, Bulgaria, paired with Kristina Nedeltcheva to clinch the doubles point with an 8-4 win over the duo of Lauren Strasburger and Hilary Tyler, then went on to post a 6-3, 6-2 victory vs. Tyler in singles action. Gantcheva and Nedeltcheva also won their doubles match in the Rebels' 4-0 semifinal sweep of New Mexico, defeating Ola Abou-Zekry and Lucy Scott (8-3). In UNLV's 4-2 upset of 23rd-ranked and top-seeded TCU in the championship match, Gantcheva clinched the crown for the Rebels with a 6-4, 7-6 win over No. 61 Nina Munch-Soegaard. Currently ranked 36th nationally in singles, Gantcheva finished the regular season with a 7-1 mark vs. MWC opponents.
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