May 1, 2018

NCAA Tournament Bracket

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 20 Virginia (15-8) women’s tennis team makes its return to the NCAA Tournament, competing at the Columbia Regional hosted by South Carolina. Virginia will face VCU (17-5) in its opening match of the regional on Friday, May 11.

The overall bracket was announced by the NCAA on Tuesday, but match times for the regional have not been determined.

South Carolina (19-6), the overall No. 10 seed and No. 10-ranked team in the nation, will face Quinnipiac (15-7) in the other opening-round match at the regional. The two winning teams will face each other on Saturday, May 12, for the right to advance to the Round of 16 hosted by Wake Forest at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Round of 16 matches through the championship will be played May 17-22.

“We are excited about the opportunity ahead of us,” said Virginia head coach Sara O’Leary. “Our team has really grown on and off the court this year, and we are thrilled to take on this new challenge (at the Columbia Regional).”

Virginia will be making the program’s 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since the 2016 season. That year, the Cavaliers advanced to the Elite Eight with a win over No. 3 seed North Carolina in the Sweet 16. It was the second Elite Eight appearance in program history for Virginia and capped a run of 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

In O’Leary’s first season at the helm of the program, the Cavaliers tied for third in ACC wins in program history after posting a 9-5 mark on the way to the six seed at the ACC Championships. The nine wins tied the mark set by the 2013 and 2016 teams.

Virginia features a doubles team in the national rankings as the pairing of Rosie Johanson (Vancouver, British Columbia) and Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Maine) is ranked No. 18 in the ITA Women’s Doubles rankings. In singles, the Cavaliers also have one player make an appearance with Johanson ranked No. 35 nationally. It’s a career-high ranking for Johanson in singles.

VCU won the A-10 Tournament this season, posting a win over UMass in the championship match as the Rams were the top-seeded team in the event. It is the 17th NCAA Tournament appearance for VCU and the 12th in the last 13 seasons for the Rams.