May 4, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State's women's tennis team advances to its 16th NCAA Championships and will host the first two rounds next weekend, May 13-14, the NCAA selection committee announced this afternoon. The three matches will take place at Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe.
The Sun Devils are one of the 16 teams the NCAA selected to host first and second round matches for the four-team NCAA Tournament regional. Arizona State will face Army in the opening round on Sat., May 13 at 9 a.m. Mississippi State vs. Oregon will follow at noon. The winners will face each other in second-round action on Sun., May 14 at 10 a.m.
Arizona State, ranked 10th by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, finished the season with a 12-7 overall record, placing fourth in the Pac-10 conference. Although the Cadets are unranked, they won the Patriot League conference last week and carry a 15-6 record.
"We're looking forward to hosting for the second straight year," head coach Sheila McInerney said. "Army is a team we've never seen before so it should be exciting."
Mississippi State, ranked 33rd, will take on No. 50 Oregon in the other first-round match. The Lady Bulldogs reached the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament and are 10-10 overall on the season while the Ducks, 8-14 overall, finished last in the regular season Pac-10 standings with a 1-7 mark.
The field for the 2000 NCAA Championships was expanded to include 64 teams last season. The 16 winners from these regional sites will advance to the third round, scheduled to begin May 18 at Pepperdine's Ralph-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif.
Also announced this afternoon were the singles and doubles invitees to the NCAA Championships that take place after team competition, May 22-26. Arizona State will send Allison Bradshaw and Karin Palme in singles and the duo of Bradshaw and Celena McCoury will compete in doubles.