The Illinois State womens tennis team learned Thursday afternoon that it will face Wake Forest Saturday, May 12, in the first round of the NCAA Regionals hosted by Oklahoma State.
The NCAA Tournament consists of 16 regional sites, with the No. 1 seed hosting. Host Oklahoma State has the top seed, followed by Wake Forest, Illinois State and No. 4 Oral Roberts.
The three seed is a huge compliment to us, head coach Chris Hoover said. Its nice coming from a mid-major conference that the national committee took note of our wins and our losses. Weve won a lot of matches and the ones we have lost have been to good teams like Stanford, Notre Dame and Illinois.
Were very excited. Stillwaters a great place and were all kind of glad were not going too far from home, Hoover added.
The regional appearance marks the first time an Illinois State tennis team has competed beyond the conference tournament. Wake Forest is no stranger to the tournament, advancing to the round of 16 last season.
The 21-5 Redbirds earned the Missouri Valley Conferences automatic berth by sweeping Drake in Sundays conference tournament title match. Wake Forest, 16-8, was an at-large selection having lost to Duke in the ACC final.
Heading to Oklahoma, the Birds are riding a 13-match winning streak and a national ranking of 62. The Demon Deacons, ranked No. 21, have won eight of their last 10.
The winner of the Oklahoma State Regional faces the winner of the Stanford Regional, Stanford, Boston University, LSU or Mississippi. All matches after the regionals will be played at the NCAA Championship site at the Lincoln Tennis Center in Stone Mountain, Ga.
