CAA Champion Tribe to Face N.C. State in NCAA Tournament

The Tribe will compete in the NCAA Regional in Durham, N.C., with the Wolfpack, No. 9 seed Duke and Temple.

04/29/08 4:30PM

Indianapolis, Ind. - The No. 24-ranked and Colonial Athletic Association Champion William and Mary women’s tennis team will travel to Durham, N.C., for the NCAA Regional, May 9-10, the NCAA’s Women’s Tennis Division I Subcommittee announced on April 29. The College will open with a familiar NCAA foe in No. 34 N.C. State at 1 p.m. on May 9. The host and No. 9 seed Duke will face Temple in the first match of the regional at 10 a.m. on Friday at Duke’s Ambler Tennis Stadium. Tickets for the first and second rounds will be available for purchase on the day of the matches for $5 with seniors and student tickets on sale for $3.

It marks the second time in the last three seasons that W&M has opened NCAA Tournament play with the Wolfpack. N.C. State defeated the Tribe, 4-3, at Virginia Commonwealth’s Thalhimer Tennis Center in Richmond during the 2006 event. Last season, W&M, the No. 15 seed a season ago, won home regional matches against Richmond, 4-0, and Wake Forest, 4-1, before falling to No. 2 Georgia at the NCAA Team Championship Round of 16 in Athens, Ga.

The Wolfpack is 13-10 overall on the season and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the ACC Championship, before falling to No. 3-ranked Georgia Tech. N.C. State is one week removed from its highest ranking of the season at No. 33 on April 20. The Pack and Tribe have seven common opponents on the season in Miami (Fla.), Wake Forest, Rich-mond, Virginia, Princeton, Arkansas and Marshall. W&M is 6-1 against the group with its lone setback coming to Mi-ami (Fla.) at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, while N.C. State went 5-3 with defeats to Miami (Fla.), Ar-kansas and Virginia.

The Tribe continued its CAA dominance on April 20, winning the program’s 20th league crown in the 23-year history of the conference. W&M will make its eighth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including all five seasons under the direction of reigning CAA Coach of the Year Kevin Epley. Overall, it will be the program’s 17th NCAA Tournament appearance where W&M owns a 20-16 all-time record. W&M is 17-8 this season and currently riding a nine-match winning streak. In total, the Green and Gold has played 12 NCAA Tournament teams this season, including six national seeds (No. 1 Northwestern, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Baylor, No. 8 California, No. 12 Miami (Fla.) and No. 16 Fresno State).

The winner of the first-round matches in Durham will square off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 10. The site winner will advance to the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. The team championship will be held May 15-20 with the NCAA Individual Championships to follow, May 21-26. The brackets for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will be released on Wednesday, April 30.

Complete Women's Tennis Division I NCAA Team Championship Bracket (PDF)