Clemson Women’s Tennis Earns Tenth Straight NCAA Tournament Bid

May 3, 2011

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson women’s tennis team has earned a tenth consecutive bid to the NCAA Team Tournament as announced on Tuesday on NCAA.com. The Tigers (19-10), ranked 15th nationally and the No. 15 overall seed, will play Missouri Valley Champions Wichita State (17-9) in Fayetteville, Ark. on May 13 or 14.

“We are obviously very excited to be included in the event for a tenth straight year,” said head coach Nancy Harris, who holds a 19-10 NCAA Tournament mark. “We need to go out an play solid tennis, and hopefully get out to California.”

Clemson is the top-seed in the four-team regional, but will travel to Arkansas due to geographical considerations, and is one of two teams, along with 12-seed Florida State, to travel as a seeded team.

“I think it’s a reflection of how many great teams are on the east coast. We’ve been privileged to host the past seven years, and we’re disappointed that we can’t host for an eighth, but we see it as an opportunity, and we think we have a great chance.”

The University of Arkansas (17-9) will serve as host to the regional, as they hold a No. 21 national ranking and will play third-seeded and 47th-ranked Sacramento State (19-8) in the first round.

The winner of the regional will advance to the Sweet 16, which will be held May 19-23 in Palo Alto, CA, and hosted by Stanford University, the defending National Champions.

Clemson has advanced past the first round in each of the previous nine seasons, has reached six Sweet 16s and reached the Final Four in 2004 and 2005.

Clemson, who closed the regular season at 19-10 overall and 6-5 in conference, certainly did not shy away from a tough schedule. The Tigers played eight of the top ten teams nationally, and played a brutal ACC schedule, which included seven teams in the top 16 nationally, and eight of the nation’s top 25 teams.

Nine ACC teams made the tournament field, and 18 of Clemson’s 27 opponents made the field overall.

Clemson will learn the draws of the individuals participating in the national singles and doubles championships, which take place from May 24-30 in Palo Alto, CA, on Wednesday. Josipa Bek, with the No. 11 nationally ranking, will likely be seeded, and she and Keri Wong also have a chance at a top-eight seed in doubles, as they are currently ranked sixth.

Each of the two were named to the 2011 All-ACC team. It was Bek’s third career honor and Wong’s second.

If Bek does get the seed in both singles and doubles, she will automatically earn her fifth and sixth All-America honors, which will set the new school mark.

This will be the first time Clemson has not hosted a regional since the 2003 season, but does mark the seventh straight year of being the top seeded team in the regional and a top-16 national seed.