Karnaukhova, who advanced to the sweet 16 last season and earned All-America honors, is unseeded in the tournament. The NCAA seeds the top eight players and then assigns a 9-16 ranking to the next eight. The remaining 48 players in the 64-athlete field are randomly assigned via the draw.

A three-time Big Sky Conference MVP, Karnaukhova is currently 24-2 overall and is ranked 22nd in Div. I. She has won her last nine matches and 18 of her last 19, including a win in the first round of the NCAA Team Championship against BYU.

Last season, Karnaukhova became the first Sacramento State tennis player to advance past the first round of the tournament. She defeated 9th-ranked Agata Cioroch of Georgia in three sets in the first round before downing Old Dominion’s Nataly Cahana in straight sets in the second round. Karnuakhova ended her run in the third round where she was defeated by Stanford’s Amber Liu who eventually won the national championship.

Bergman is making her fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The senior is 12-11 in singles play this season but was named the ITA East Region Senior of the Year. One of her 12 wins came earlier this season against Northwestern’s Audra Cohen, who was ranked No. 1 at the time. Bergman, who is currently ranked 50th in the latest ITA poll, has lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament each of the last three years.

The winner of the match will face either Amanda Fish of Vanderbilt or Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech in the second round on Tuesday.

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