Rebels up by two strokes in MWC championships

Brett Kanda, Seung-su Han and Eddie Olson all broke par Thursday as 15th-ranked UNLV took a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Mountain West Conference Golf Championships at Arizona National Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.

Kanda and Han were at 2-under-par 69 on the par-71 Trent Jones-designed course, while Olson came in at 70 for the Rebels, who finished the day at 3-under 281.

UNLV led Texas Christian (283) by two strokes and Brigham Young (286) by five.

San Diego State’s Aaron Goldberg shot 4-under 67 to take the individual lead.

The 54-hole tournament runs through Saturday.

• WOMEN’S TENNIS — Led by standout player Elena Gantcheva, second-seeded UNLV posted a 4-1 win over No. 7 Colorado State in a quarterfinal match of the Mountain West Conference championships in Fort Worth, Texas.

Gantcheva teamed with Kristina Nedeltcheva for an 8-4 victory in doubles play before coming back with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles.

UNLV (15-8) will face third-seeded New Mexico (15-8), a 4-2 winner over No. 6 seed San Diego State, in one of today’s semifinal matches.

• MEN’S TENNIS — AJ Young of Brigham Young beat UNLV’s Bryan Miller at No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-5 as the fifth-seeded Cougars eliminated the fourth-seeded Rebels from the Mountain West Conference championships in Fort Worth, Texas.

Young’s win gave the Cougars a 4-2 quarterfinal victory. The Rebels, who ended their season at 10-12, were leading in the third set of the only other singles match under way at the time of BYU’s clinching win.

• SOFTBALL — UNLV continued to struggle, dropping a Mountain West Conference doubleheader to Utah in Orem, Utah, 8-7 and 3-2.

The Rebels, losing for the 18th and 19th times in their last 23 games, fell to 3-9 in league and 23-30-1 overall.

The games were moved after field conditions in Salt Lake City were deemed unplayable.

Utah improved to 8-4 and 25-20.