May 11, 2008
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech has earned its seventh straight NCAA Tournament bid and is off to the Gainesville Regional the NCAA selection committee announced tonight. The Yellow Jackets are the No. 4 seed and will face the No. 1 overall national seed Florida in the first round on Friday, May 16, at 6:00 p.m. No. 3 seed Central Florida will take on No. 2 South Florida in the other game from the Gainesville regional at 3:30 p.m.
“I am so happy for this team, especially the seniors,” heads coach Sharon Perkins said. “Like I just told the team, we are going to Gainesville to compete and are not just happy to be in. We have overcome so much this year, but the true colors of the team showed when they never gave up and now we have a chance to prove ourselves. These are three tough teams we are going to see, but I know that they will be up to the challenge and are coming to come out on a mission”
The Yellow Jackets watched the selection show at the Victory Lane on concourse C at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, just minutes after arriving back from Maryland where the ACC Tournament was held over the weekend. The Jackets lost to NC State in the opening round 1-0, but came back the second day after a 10-hour rain delay to beat Virginia 5-3. Tech, however, was eliminated by the weather and not another opponent after more rain forced the change of format in the tournament to single elimination on Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets were 10-21 on March 20, but reeled off 20 of 27 games to finish the regular season over .500 and secure a fourth-place finish in the ACC. Tech has won 14 of its last 17 games, including seven against teams ranked in the RPI top 50.
This will be the seventh straight season that the Yellow Jackets have advanced to the NCAA Tournament. They are 12-12 (.500) all-time and have won at least one game in each of their six prior trips. Tech has never advanced out of a regional, but has won its first game five out of six times. This marks the second straight year that Tech has gone to the Gainesville region. Last season, the Jackets defeated Texas in the first round but then lost to Florida and Texas on the second day of action. Tech is 0-1 all-time against the Gators in the NCAA Tournament and has never faced either South Florida or Central Florida in postseason play.
Tickets can be purchased from the University of Florida Ticket office. Adult all-session passes are available for $25, while senior citizen’s and college students can purchase an all-session pass for $10. Single-day tickets cost $10 and $5, respectively.
