UNLV roundup: Women’s tennis team back in league final
Izumi Asano and Samantha Li each won in singles and teamed for a shutout victory in doubles to lead top-seeded UNLV past No. 5 seed Wyoming 4-2 in a Mountain West women’s tennis championship semifinal Saturday in Boise, Idaho.
En-Pei Huang and Anna Bogoslavets also won in straight sets in singles for the Rebels (16-5), who won their seventh straight match and will play in the league tournament final for the third straight season.
They will face second-seeded Fresno State (11-12) at 10 a.m. Sunday.
UNLV No. 1 singles player Aiwen Zhu, ranked 69th nationally, lost 6-2, 6-4 to Magdalena Stencel, and Zhu and Huang fell 7-6 (12-10) at No. 1 doubles.
The Cowgirls (12-8) won in tiebreakers at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles.
SOFTBALL
At Eller Media Stadium, Janine Petmecky hit a two-out, two-run, go-ahead home run in the sixth inning to lift the Rebels to a 7-6 victory over UNR.
Petmecky finished 2-for-4 and pitched 1 1/3 hitless, shutout innings of relief, improving to 17-6 with the victory.
Brooke Stover hit a two-run single in the fifth and totaled four RBIs for UNLV (26-16, 8-9 Mountain West), which was outhit 8-6.
Sadaria McAlister and Jyllian Ahart had two hits apiece for the Wolf Pack (19-23, 8-11), who went up 6-5 with a five-run sixth.
Myranda Bueno went 2-for-3 with an RBI and scored a run for the Rebels.
UNLV starter Charlie Masterson allowed six runs, two earned, on eight hits and two walks and struck out four in 5 2/3 innings.
Julia Jensen (10-10) went the distance for UNR, allowing seven runs, six earned, on six hits and three walks. She struck out four.
BASEBALL
At San Diego, Chad Bible hit a two-run double and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in San Diego State’s five-run fifth inning, rallying the Aztecs to a 7-6 victory over the Rebels.
Bible finished 3-for-4, Chase Calabuig and Matt Rudick had two hits apiece, and Casey Schmitt drove in two runs for San Diego State (29-14, 12-7 Mountain West), which was outhit 12-11.
Dillon Johnson went 3-for-5 with RBI doubles in the second and fourth for the Rebels (29-16, 10-10), who led 4-0 after two innings and 5-2 after four.
Nick Ames went 2-for-5 with a solo home run, Bryson Stott went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI, Max Smith went 2-for-5, Vince Taormina had an RBI double, and Kyle Isbel had a run-scoring single for UNLV, which left 11 runners on base.
Rebels starter Chase Maddux allowed four runs on eight hits and one walk and struck out two in 4 1/3 innings.
Blaze Bohall (3-2) took the loss, giving up three runs on three hits and one walk ove 2 2/3 innings.
TRACK AND FIELD
At Irvine, Calif., MacKenna Howard broke her program record in the shot put, one of four victories for the Rebels as they placed first in the five-team Steve Scott Invitational.
UNLV totaled 106 points, 13 ahead of host UC Irvine. Long Beach State was third with 92 points, followed by Grand Canyon (81) and UC Riverside (51.5).
Howard broke her eight-day-old record in the shot with a toss of 54 feet, 4¾ inches.
Najia Hudspeth won the 400-meter dash in 53.15 seconds and teamed with twin sister Nylia, Avi’Tal Perteete and Kaysha Love to win the 1,600 relay in a season-best 3 minutes, 37.74 seconds.
Elisa Rovere won the 800 in a personal-best 2:07.68.
UNLV also had four second-place showings: Love in the 100 (11.73 seconds), Perteete in the 400 (54.70 seconds), Spencer Moore in the 1,500 (4:33.18) and Cassidy Osborne-Butler in the shot put (49 feet, 4¼ inches).