WILMINGTON, N.C. ? Upstart UNC Wilmington will travel to NCAA hotbed Athens, Ga., on Friday, May 8, to battle Virginia Tech's Hokies in a first-round matchup of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships.
The Seahawks, who captured their first Colonial Athletic Association title eight days ago in Norfolk, Va., are the No. 3 seed in the Athens Regional. Host Georgia is seeded No. 1, Virginia Tech is No. 2 and South Carolina State is the No. 4 seed. The draw for the 64-team field was announced Tuesday during a special selection show nationally on ESPN News.
“We're very excited about drawing Virginia Tech in the Georgia Regional,” said Mait DuBois, UNCW's second-year coach. “Anytime you get to play in what many consider the premier tennis facility in the country is always a great experience.
“Being part of the selection show was an experience our guys really enjoyed. To see UNCW listed in the draw for a national championship is very exciting. This my seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament, and I'm just as excited as the first time. It definitely does not get old.”
UNCW, ranked 59th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll, and Va. Tech, rated 26th, will square off at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex at a time to be announced later. DuBois and his young team, which consists of just on senior, are one of 31 automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament after the Seahawks edged CAA favorite VCU, 4-3, in the finals of the CAA Championships.
The Hokies, 14-7, faced 16 ranked teams and seven Top-25 opponents this spring. Tech is making its ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and is anchored by All-ACC selection Yoann Ree and ACC Freshman-of-the-Year Luka Somen.
The Seahawks, 19-5, knocked off Drexel, Old Dominion and No. 45 VCU in the CAA Championships and has won 10 consecutive matches. Freshman Ryan Ybarra carries a 12-match winning streak into the NCAA Tournament for UNCW, which owns a 93-48 (.660) record in singles.
DuBois said, “Our team has a lot of confidence right now, and it's always nice to be playing your best tennis at the end of the year. We're a very scrappy team that competes very hard.”
The First- and second-round matches will be conducted Friday-Saturday, May 8-9, with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Men's Championships at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas, hosted by Texas A&M. The team championship will be held May 14-19.
The teams will play a single-elimination tournament at 16 first- and second-round sites (four teams at each site) and the finals site (16-team bracket) to determine the national champion. The matches will be regulation dual matches with three (3) eight-game, pro-set doubles played for one team point, followed by six (6) singles matches, each valued at one team point, played best of three sets. Regular scoring will be used and a 12-point tiebreaker will be played at eight games all in doubles and at six games all in singles.
