WOMEN’S TENNIS SET TO TAKE ON MICHIGAN IN FIRST ROUND OF NCAA TOURNAMENT

4/28/2009

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Sacramento State women’s tennis team will make its eighth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, it was announced by the NCAA selection committee today.

The Hornets (19-8), who earned an automatic berth into the tournament by virtue of winning the Big Sky Conference title for the eighth straight season, will travel to Notre Dame, Ind., to face Michigan (17-6) on Friday, May 8, at either 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. Central time. The Wolverines, who are ranked No. 17 nationally, are also making their eighth straight tournament appearance.

The other first-round matchup features fifth-seeded Notre Dame against UIC on Friday. The winner of the two matches will play each other in the second round on Saturday, May 10, at 1 p.m. Central time. All matches will take place at the Courtney Tennis Center on the Notre Dame campus.

Sacramento State, who is currently ranked 58th in the nation, defeated Northern Arizona, 4-0, in last Sunday’s Big Sky Tournament championship match. The Hornets have won 12 of their last 16 matches with the only losses coming to nationally ranked competition, including three teams ranked in the top 25. Sacramento State is 3-6 against ranked opposition this year (the ITA ranks the top 75 teams) with every match coming on the road.

The Hornets have dominated the Big Sky Conference over the last eight years, winning 62 straight matches against league opposition during that span. However, Sacramento State continues to face some of the nation’s toughest competition in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Other NCAA first-round matchups for the Hornets have included Stanford (2002, 2007), USC (2003), Fresno State (2004, 2006), BYU (2005) and Arizona State (2008). All but two of those matches came against the team that hosted the regional (the match against Fresno State in 2004 and the 2008 matchup with Arizona State being the exceptions).