HOUSTON, Texas - The Hawai'i women's tennis team found little difficulty in its 'play-in' match of the 2004 Western Athletic Conference Championships, easily defeating 10th-seeded Nevada, 5-0, Friday morning, at the Recreation Tennis Courts on the campus of Rice University. The seventh-seeded Rainbow Wahine now advance to the quarterfinals, where they face No. 2-seed SMU at 6:00 p.m. CDT.

Hawai'i opened doubles play by winning the Nos. 2 and 3 courts to take the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead. Juniors Lauren Fitzgerald and Paige Mainor posted their fourth consecutive victory with an 8-4 win over Fiorella Velez and Kristen Davenport at the No. 2 court. At No. 3, Justine Boutet and Renata Camargo out-dueled Christine Tilley and Cherie Petterson, 8-5.

In singles competition, UH easily won four matches in straight sets, including Curtis' 6-3, 6-0 victory over Petterson at No. 5 for the match-clincher. Camargo got things started with a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Tilley at No. 6, to improve to 15-4 on the year. Fitzgerald posted her team-leading 17th singles victory with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Bachlan Pham at the top spot. Mainor added a 6-0, 6-3 win over Davenport at the No. 4 position.

The Rainbow Wahine (9-13) face the Mustangs in the day's final quarterfinal match-up. SMU finished the regular season at 15-9 and are currently No. 42 nationally in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.


Match Results
Hawai`i def. Nevada, 5-0
Singles
1. Lauren Fitzgerald def. Bachlan Pham (UN), 6-0, 6-3
2. Justine Boutet vs. Myriam Bouchlaka (UN), DNF
3. Sylvia Jaros vs. Fiorella Velez (UN), DNF
4. Paige Mainor def. Kristen Davenport (UN), 6-0, 6-3
5. Kimberly Curtis def. Cherie Petterson (UN), 6-3, 6-0
6. Renata Camargo def. Christine Tilley (UN), 6-1, 6-0

Doubles
1. Jaros/Curtis vs. Pham/Bouchlaka (UN), DNF
2. Fitzgerald/Mainor def. Velez/Davenport (UN), 8-4
3. Boutet/Camargo def. Tilley/Petterson (UN), 8-5

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