UNLV notebook: Streaking Rebels to wrap up season at San Diego

Thursday, May 11, 2000 | 10:05 a.m.

It's finals week both in and out of the classroom for the UNLV baseball team.

In addition to taking their final exams, the Rebels are preparing for their final regular-season series this weekend at San Diego State.

UNLV, which has won 15 of its past 20 games, is in fifth place in the six-team Mountain West Conference with a 22-30 overall record and 12-15 conference mark.

The Rebels would like nothing more than to move up to fourth place going into next weekend's conference tournament, but they will need some help to do so.

UNLV is one game behind fourth-place Utah in the conference standings, but the Utes have the luxury of ending the conference season this weekend at home against last-place Air Force -- a team the Rebels beat five times in five games last weekend at Wilson Stadium.

"We just have to go in there, play our best ball and see what happens," UNLV head coach Rod Soesbe said. "As far as the (conference) tournament goes, I think anybody can win it because everybody has beaten up on everybody else."

UNLV swept the three-game conference series against the Aztecs earlier this season at Wilson Stadium and holds a 27-17 edge in the series.

San Diego State (28-27 overall and 16-10 in the MWC) is second in the conference standings and trails front-running New Mexico by 3 1/2 games.

UNLV will host the inaugural Mountain West Conference baseball tournament next Wednesday through Saturday at Wilson Stadium.

* SOFTBALL: The sixth-seed Rebels opened the inaugural Mountain West Conference softball championship this morning in Salt Lake City against third-seed San Diego State.

UNLV closed out the regular season by losing both ends of a doubleheader last weekend at Colorado State. The Rebels, who have lost 16 of their past 18 games, took a 17-39 overall record and 3-17 conference mark into the tournament opener.

San Diego State (35-25, 13-7) won all four meetings with the Rebels this season and had won 12 of its past 16 games.

If the Rebels beat San Diego State, they would face second-seed New Mexico this afternoon in the double-elimination tournament.

* WOMEN'S TENNIS: Senior Katarina Malec became only the second UNLV woman ever to qualify for both the NCAA singles and doubles championships when the national postseason fields were announced last week.

Malec will team with sophomore Marianne Bakken in the 32-team doubles tournament. The duo, which is also the league's highest-ranked doubles team at No. 27, is 24-3 on the year, including 21-1 in dual-match play at the No. 1 position.

Malec earned her first spot in the 64-player NCAA singles tournament after going 35-5 during the regular season, including 13-2 against ranked opponents. The native of Warsaw, Poland, is the highest-ranked player in the Mountain West Conference at No. 29.

This year's NCAA individual tournaments are scheduled for May 22-26 at the Ralph-Straus Tennis Center on the campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

* TRACK AND FIELD: The UNLV track and field team took this week off for final exams and to prepare for next week's Mountain West Conference outdoor championships in Provo, Utah.

The Rebels concluded their regular season last Sunday with several impressive finishes at the Jesse Owens Classic at Ohio State University.

Sophomore Michele Davis trimmed 0.25 seconds off her NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 200 meters and posted the ninth-best time in the nation. Davis ran a 23.23 in the event and finished second.

Another of the Rebels' provisional qualifiers, Jenni Nelson, claimed a second-place finish in the 3,000 meters. Nelson ran a 10:18.18 and was the top finisher in the event among NCAA competition.

Brian Hilderbrand is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at 259-4089 or by e-mail at bh@lasvegassun.com