NCAA Division I Regionals Underway, with All Top 16 Women's Seeds Advancing to Saturday's Second Round; D-II Finals Set
Because the women open the Sweet Sixteen in Athens this year, playing on Thursday, May 20th, they are required to complete their regional competitions by Saturday. In today's first round at 16 sites around the country, all the top 16 women's seeds advanced to the second round. There were a few surprises, with four 33-48 seeds defeating 17-32 seeds. In the Michigan regional, Ohio State upended DePaul 4-1 to book a meeting with the No. 4 seeded Wolverines and in the Notre Dame regional, Boise State downed Iowa, to earn a crack at the Irish. In the Miami regional, Nebraska defeated Illinois and in the North Carolina regional, UNLV beat Virginia Commonwealth 4-3. Most of the scores were 4-0 or 4-1 in the 32 matches played today, but in addition to the UNLV win over VCU there was another close one. Virginia beat Princeton 4-3 with Hana Tomljanovic coming from a break down in the third set at No. 4 singles to clinch it for the Cavaliers. For the complete women's results, see the ncaa.com bracket.
Six men's regionals also began today, but rain in the Texas and Oklahoma area has pushed three of those sites' matches deep into the evening. In the the other three, there were no surprises. Defending NCAA champion and No. 5 seed Southern Cal will play Fresno State in the regional final Saturday, with No. 13 Illinois taking on frequent Big Ten foe Wisconsin in Champaign. And the rematch we had all hoped for is on for tomorrow in Durham, where No. 16 Duke will meet North Carolina for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen.
For the men's Division I bracket, click here.
The men's D-II final on Saturday will pit Valdosta State against Barry. For more on today's semifinals, click here. In the women's D-II championship match, either two-time defending champion Armstrong Atlantic or BYU-Hawaii will end the season perfectly. Both teams are undefeated going into Saturday morning's final. For more, click here.
And if you missed my link earlier, please check out today's Tennis Recruiting Network NCAA roundtable, where most of us take our shots at predicting who will claim the NCAA Division I team titles eleven days from now.
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