May 1, 2007
The seventh-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team (25-3) was tabbed the No. 6 overall seed and will play host to first- and second-round action in the 2007 NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championship, it was announced Tuesday afternoon. Action will begin next Saturday, May 12, at the Courtney Tennis Center, with the Irish and Illinois-Chicago (15-6) playing at 9:00 a.m. (ET) in first-round action, before Michigan (16-7) and Colorado (16-7) square off at 12:00 p.m. The winners will meet in the second round on Sunday, May 13 at 12:00 p.m.
Notre Dame, BIG EAST Conference runner-up and at-large participant, has reached the NCAA Championship for the 12th consecutive season and 14th time in the last 15 years. The Flames gained automatic entrance due to their Horizon League tournament triumph, while the Wolverines and Buffaloes garnered two of the remaining 32 at-large bids.
The winner of the second-round match will advance to Athens, Ga., which will play host to the final four rounds of the tournament at the Dan Magill Tennis Center from May 18-22. The team emerging from South Bend will face the team from the Chapel Hill sub regional that features No. 11 seed North Carolina, as well as Marist, Duke and LSU.
Illinois-Chicago went 7-0 in Horizon League action during the regular season and then topped Butler by a 4-3 score in the tournament final to earn its 11th consecutive NCAA trip. Michigan is ranked 23rd in the nation, third among teams in the ITA’s Midwest Region. Michigan was 8-2 in league play during the regular season to finish third in the Big Ten behind No. 5 Northwestern and No. 24 Indiana. The Wolverines reached the title match of the conference tourney, but fell 4-0 to the Wildcats. Colorado finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference with a 9-2 record, but faltered in the tournament quarterfinals, 4-1, against Oklahoma State.
The Irish earned a top 16 seed in the NCAA Championship for the second straight season and sixth time overall. Notre Dame attained its highest ever seeding a year ago, when it was tabbed the No. 2 seed in the event. The Irish reached the quarterfinals – which equaled Notre Dame’s top performance in the event since moving up to the Division I level in 1985-86 (the Irish reached the quarterfinals in 1996 as well). Notre Dame also earned top-16 seeds in 1996 (Nos. 5-8), `99 (No. 12 seed), 2000 (Nos. 13-16), ’01 (No. 13) and ’06 (No. 2).
The Courtney Tennis Center will play host to NCAA women’s tournament action for the seventh time in the last decade, after being the national site in 1998 and an early-round venue in 1997, ’99, 2000, ’01 and `06. Notre Dame holds an 8-2 home record in NCAA play. Overall, it will be the 12th time the facility has played host to NCAA Championship competition, including having been the men’s national site in both 1971 and ’94.
The Irish have made 14 NCAA appearances since their first trip in 1993, reaching the round of 16 on six occasions and the 1996 and 2006 quarterfinals. Only 10 other schools have been invited to 14+ NCAA tournaments since `93: Arizona State, California, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Pepperdine, USC, Stanford, Texas and UCLA. The group of schools that have been in each of the last 12 NCAAs has just 18 members: all the above schools plus Fresno State, Miami, Northwestern, South Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Illinois-Chicago and Notre Dame have met seven times in program history with the Irish coming away victorious in each meeting. The two have not met on the court since the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame blanked the Flames, 5-0, in the first round in South Bend.
Michigan is a familiar foe, as the Irish and Wolverines have played at least once in each of the last 21 seasons, with Notre Dame holding a 17-8 advantage in the series, including 13 wins in the last 14 matches. The Irish not only captured the regular season meeting with the Wolverines back on Feb. 16, 6-1, in South Bend, but also knocked Michigan out of the 2006 NCAA Tournament. After the Wolverines won at Notre Dame in 1984, the Irish have won all 12 subsequent matches with the Wolverines at home.
Notre Dame and Colorado have met just twice in women’s tennis and the Buffaloes have won each meeting.
An incredible 15 of Notre Dame’s 28 matches from this season were against teams that qualified for the tournament: BYU, Vanderbilt (No. 16 seed), Tennessee, Texas, Wichita State, USF, Texas A&M, Northwestern (No. 5 seed), Indiana, Duke, North Carolina (No. 11 seed), Michigan, Georgia Tech (No. 3 seed), Clemson (No. 7 seed) and Wake Forest. The Irish went 12-3 against that group.
For the eighth consecutive year, the NCAA Championship features a field of 64 teams, consisting of 31 automatic-qualifying conference champions and 33 at-large selections. The first and second rounds will take place May 12-13 at 16 campus sites.
The draws for the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships will be announced Wednesday on www.ncaasports.com. They will take place May 23-28 at Georgia, with 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams competing. Since 1989, Notre Dame competitors have garnered 21 invitations to the national singles tournament and 13 to the doubles event.
For ticket information, please consult und.com or call 574-631-7356.
— ND —