Four SAC Women's Tennis Teams Selected to NCAA Tournament Field; Catawba Earns 1-Seed
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Four South Atlantic Conference women's tennis teams were selected to the 8-team NCAA Division II Southeast Regional as announced by the NCAA this evening. Catawba led the way by earning the No. 1 seed and will host the regional. Lenoir-Rhyne earned the No. 5 seed with Wingate at six and Newberry at seven.
The Catawba Indians will host for the second straight year, entering the NCAA Tournament with a mark of 20-1 and a perfect 11-0 record in South Atlantic Conference play en route to the league regular season and tournament titles. Catawba will host 8th-seed Erskine on Friday at 9:30 a.m. The second round game will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 9. The Catawba Indians, led by SAC Player of the Year Sofia Antolini, will look to advance to nationals for the first time in program history with a pair of wins on the weekend.
The #12 ranked Bears currently sport a 15-3 (10-1 SAC) record and advanced to their first SAC Championship game in program history after defeating rival Wingate 4-2 in the SAC semi-finals. Runa Muderrisoglu, Nellie Wahlberg, Sandra Mahbouli, Mehetia Boosie, and Alexa Allison were all named All-Conference honorees, while head coach Sam Clarke was the SAC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year. This will be the first NCAA appearance for the Bears who will play North Georgia on Catawba's campus.
Wingate garnered the No. 6 seed with a 14-6 overall mark and will play Flagler in the NCAA opener.
Newberry is in at No. 7 after going 15-5 overall and 8-3 in conference. Newberry will travel to Columbus St.
Southeast Region
- Catawba (20-1) AQ
- Columbus State (17-4) AQ
- Flagler College (16-9)
- North Georgia (16-7)
- Lenoir Rhyne (15-3)
- Wingate (14-6)
- Newberry (15-5)
- Erskine (16-8) AQ