THE FLATS – Georgia Tech women’s tennis will make its 24th appearance in the NCAA Tournament after receiving an at-large selection to the field of 64 teams on Monday night. The Yellow Jackets will travel to the University of Texas for first and second round action this weekend, May 4-5.
No. 24 Georgia Tech (13-9, 9-4 ACC) will open the tournament against No. 38 Illinois at 11 a.m. EST on Saturday. The winner will face either Harvard or host No. 9 Texas in the second round on May 5. All action will take place at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, Texas.
The Yellow Jackets enter the postseason tournament winners of five of their past seven matches. Tech concluded regular season ACC action with a victory over Wake Forest, 6-1, on senior day before dropping a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Clemson in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.
Last season, Georgia Tech traveled to Florida for the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The Jackets topped UCF in the first round before falling to host Florida in second round action.
Illinois (17-9, 8-3 Big Ten) reached the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, falling to Wisconsin after upending Rutgers in the second round. The Fighting Illini are led by junior Megan Heuser, who picked up Big Ten All-Conference honors prior to the conference tournament. Heuser has led the squad from the No. 1 singles and doubles positions.
Georgia Tech and Illinois have met twice in program history, with the Yellow Jackets taking both decisions in 2007 and 2023.
Texas will play host this weekend after producing a 21-5 overall record and 12-1 Big 12 ledger. The Longhorns advanced to the Big 12 Championship match, falling to No. 1 Oklahoma State. Malaika Rapolu leads UT from the top singles position, boasting a 7-1 record in dual singles play and is 35-5 overall on the season.
Harvard earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament after going 19-4 this season and 5-2 in the Ivy League. The Crimson closed out regular season play capturing a 4-3 win over Dartmouth and have won 15 of their past 17 matches.
First- and second-round competition takes place May 3-5 at select campuses and each regional features four teams playing in a single-elimination format. The winner at each site advances to super-regional competition, May 10 or 11. The super-regional winners earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Action from the quarterfinal round to championship match will take place at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Okla., on the campus of Oklahoma State.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of the development of Yellow Jackets that thrive academically at the Institute and compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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