Wingate Earns No. 7 Seed for NCAA Women's Tennis Championship Southeast Regional
The 49th-ranked Wingate University women's tennis team will face sixth-ranked Columbus State University in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship Southeast Regional, officials announce Tuesday night
INDIANAPOLIS - The 49th-ranked Wingate University women's tennis team will face sixth-ranked Columbus State University in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship Southeast Regional, officials announce Tuesday night. The CSU Cougars (20-3 overall) will host one of two Southeast Region tourneys as the No. 2 seed. The South Atlantic Conference regular season and tournament champion Bulldogs (19-5 overall) are the No. 7 seed.
Defending national champions Armstrong Atlantic State University will host the Southeast Region number one bracket in Savannah. With Columbus State also hosting a men's regional bracket, the women's regional will begin on Sunday, April 28 with the Wingate-CSU match at 9 a.m. In the other match, third-seeded and 10th-ranked Francis Marion and sixth-seeded Erskine play at 12 noon Sunday.
The winners of the two Columbus first round matches will meet on Monday at 2 p.m. for a chance to advance to the Round of 16, which will begin on May 8 in Surprise, Ariz. In the other side of the Southeast Region, top overall seed and top-ranked Armstrong will take on eighth-seeded Clayton State. In the four/five match-up, fourth-seeded Georgia College will face fifth-seeded Augusta State.
Wingate has qualified for the NCAA tournament a SAC-best 11 times. The Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 1996, defeating St. Andrews (4-2) and Elon (4-1) to take their first (and only) trip to the championship site. North Florida ended Wingate's 1996 run with a 4-0 victory in Edmond, Okla.
The Wingate women earned at-large bids to the NCAA Division II tournament in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Wingate's three SAC tournament titles give them automatic qualifications in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Columbus State has reached the NCAA Division II women's tennis tournament 12 consecutive years and 17 times in program history. In 2012, the Cougars reached the NCAA tournament quarterfinals for only the second time in school history. Wingate hosted both Francis Marion and Erskine this season. The FMU Patriots defeated the Bulldogs 7-2 (Feb. 9), while the Flying Fleet edged Wingate 5-4 (Feb. 25).
- Wingate media relations