Malec reaches NCAA semis

Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 10:05 a.m.

MALIBU, Calif. -- UNLV senior Katarina Malec won 11 of the last 12 games on the way to winning her third consecutive three-set match Wednesday and earned a spot in the semifinals of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships at Pepperdine University.

Malec, unseeded and ranked 29th and playing her second match of the day, rallied to defeat 11th-ranked Bruna Colosio of LSU in the quarterfinals, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Malec, who improved to 39-5, won her 19th straight singles match and improved her record this season against ranked opponents to 17-2.

Malec, a native of Warsaw, Poland, jumped out to a 2-0 lead but lost six straight games and the first set. After being tied 1-1 in the second set, Malec went ahead 4-1, lost the next game and then won the final eight to close the match.

"I was unbelievably tired and she made me run a lot in the first set," Malec said. "In the second set I saw that she was tired, too, so I changed my style to play longer points. I went point by point and I knew that I had to show her that I was not going to miss any easy shots.

"I was concentrating in the final set. I wanted to get it over with as quickly as I could before I started to cramp up."

Malec has now gone deeper into the NCAA tournament than any UNLV woman in school history.

"It has been a tremendous day," UNLV coach Kevin Cory said. "Katarina fought so hard and really showed a lot of class and heart. She was very tired after the first match of the day, and to come back and beat Colosio so soundly in the final two sets is remarkable. She has worked extremely hard leading up to this tournament and she is in as good as shape as anyone here."

Malec was scheduled to play top-seeded Marissa Irvin of Stanford today in one semifinal. Irvin, a sophomore from nearby Santa Monica, Calif., is 82nd in the world rankings. The two played once this season on Feb. 25 in Palo Alto, Calif., when Irvin took a 6-4, 6-1 decision. That match also was the last time Malec lost in singles play.

The other semifinal will feature Stanford's Laura Granville, seeded 9-16, against fifth-seeded Aarthi Venkatesan of Georgia.

"Irvin presents a tremendous challenge, but you never know," Cory said. "There is no question that all the pressure is on Irvin because she is the game's top-ranked player. Every since Katarina got past the second round and made All-American, she has loosened up and really enjoyed the experience here. She is really taking in the moment."

Malec said she has overcome the fatigue of four matches in three days with the help of the emotions that come from winning.

"I'm in shock right now," she said. "I am so tired but to get to the semifinals of such an important tournament is just a great feeling."