Sports briefs for May 18, 2004

Tuesday, May 18, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

Rebels take home both MWC awards

For the first time this season, UNLV baseball swept the Mountain West Conference's weekly awards, as junior right fielder Eric Nielsen was named Player of the Week and senior right-hander David Seccombe picked up the Pitcher of the Week award.

Nielsen, who played locally at Silverado, helped the Rebels take three of four from Utah last week. He belted five home runs and knocked in 15 runs, while batting .529 for the series.

Seccombe, a product of Cimmaron Memorial, won his eighth game of the season last week. Against Utah, he allowed one earned run and four hits in seven innings, while striking out six and failing to yield an extra-base hit.

Marquette name stays

Marquette University declined a $2 million donation offered to switch the school's nickname back to the Warriors, a decade after the university changed it to avoid offending American Indians. Wayne Sanders, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees, made the offer during Marquette's commencement ceremony on Sunday.

Female breaks barrier

Ashley McElhiney was introduced as the new coach of the expansion Nashville Rhythm of the American Basketball Association, becoming the first female head coach of a professional men's basketball team.

A former standout guard for Vanderbilt, the 22-year-old McElhiney was taken by the Indiana Fever in the third round of last year's WNBA draft but was released before playing a game.

Agassi loses tuneup

Las Vegas' Andre Agassi lost in the first round of the Raiffeisen Grand Prix in Austria to a qualifier ranked 339th in the world.

Nenad Zimonjic beat Agassi 6-2, 7-6 (6) at the clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which starts next week.

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