Indianapolis, Ind. - The Nebraska women's tennis team has been named as one of 64 participants in the 2010 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships starting later this month. The Huskers, who finished with a school-best 21 wins this season, qualified for the first time since the 2006 season. NU will face Illinois in the first round on May 14-16 at Northwestern University. Exact times and dates have not been set yet.
First- and second-round competition will be conducted May 14-15, with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia, hosted by the University of Georgia. The team championship will be held May 20-25.
The Fighting Illini are making their third straight appearance in the NCAA Championships. They finished the season with a record of 15-9 and are ranked No. 22 in the latest ITA polls.
If the Huskers make it past Illinois, they will move on to play the winner of Miami (OH) and No. 6 Northwestern. The winner of that match will then move on to Athens for the final 16-team tournament.
Nebraska finished the season with a 21-5 record and a 9-2 mark in Big 12 play. Along with the school-record 21 wins, the Huskers also tied a school record for conference wins.
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 shall 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.
Thirty-one teams received automatic bids as winners of their conferences, while another 33, including Nebraska, were selected on an at-large basis.
NCAA Women's Tennis Championships
First and Second Round
Nebraska vs. Illinois
Miami (OH) vs. Northwestern