Malec’s splendid run ends in semis

Victoria Sun

Friday, May 26, 2000 | 10:33 a.m.

MALIBU, Calif. -- In four short days and despite a loss to the country's No.1-ranked player Thursday, UNLV women's tennis player Katarina Malec turned the 2000 NCAA women's singles championships into her coming out party.

Wielding heavy topspin ground strokes and formidable serves, she toppled three seeds -- including highly touted Bruna Colosio of LSU in the quarterfinals -- after losing the first set in each match. Malec earned a spot in Thursday's semifinal match against Stanford's Marissa Irvin, the top seed and best player in the country.

Fatigue and frustration brought the party to a memorable close for the UNLV upstart. Irvin rallied for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory at the Ralph Straus Tennis Center at Pepperdine.

But Malec will always have a place in the history of UNLV athletics after her performance this week.

"There's a kind of small disappointment because I wanted to do more, but we won the conference and I beat a lot of good players at the NCAAs," said Malec, the Mountain West Conference player of the year who hails from Warsaw, Poland. "I'm satisfied.

"It was a good match. I gave it all I could."

Malec finished the year 39-6, setting a school record for victories and winning percentage. Along the way she won 19 straight matches and teamed with Marianne Bakken in reaching the quarterfinals in doubles. It was the first time a UNLV women's doubles team won an NCAA tournament match.

By reaching the singles semifinal, Malec became the first Rebel to win more than one match at the NCAA tournament.

"We are so proud of her," Rebels coach Kevin Cory said. "She has been a tremendous asset for our program and sets an example with her leadership and hard work.

"She is a fighter. She has a lot of heart and does whatever it takes to get the job done."

That was evident throughout the tournament, but particularly against Irvin.

Irvin had dropped only one set in the tournament before Thursday, so she was well rested before playing Malec, who had to play two matches on Wednesday due to a rain delay on Tuesday.

Because Malec's two matches the previous day lasted five hours, her endurance finally started to crumble early in the third set with the score tied at 2-2. Malec lost her service game after her back started aching, and she wasn't able to ignore the pain as she had earlier.

Her discomfort notwithstanding, Malec continued charging after short balls, and she didn't lose any points without a fight. Irvin served for a 4-2 lead and Malec forced the game to deuce five times before she hit a forehand into the net, giving Irvin the game.

The next game went to deuce twice before Irvin finally broke Malec's serve. Malec made Irvin work for the final game by getting a break point when Irvin's forehand sailed wide. It took two more deuces before Irvin won the match with a backhand winner down the line.

"I was so tired from yesterday," Malec said. "Everything hurt badly.

"From the beginning of the match I didn't think about the pain. Even if you're sore, you get emotionally into a groove and you don't think about it.

"I wanted to win this match bad."

This time, unlike their match three months ago when Irvin beat Malec 6-4, 6-1, the Rebel player had her chances.

Irvin helped with nine double faults in the first two sets and shaky play, due in part to Malec's solid performance. Malec's first and second serves had good movement and her ground strokes were crisp.

Malec couldn't convert on three break point opportunities in the second set. She said she let the match slip away after she won the first set and went up 1-0 in the second, when thoughts of upsetting Irvin for a chance to play for an NCAA title entered her mind.

Stanford coach Frank Brennan was impressed by Malec's performance the second time around against Irvin.

"She's improved tremendously," Brennan said. "I think that was a great performance for her -- not only to get to the semifinals but also to push the top seed. She's done well."