For the 11th time in the last 12 seasons and the ninth time under head coach Brian Kalbas, the North Carolina women’s tennis team has been awarded a home regional and a national seed for the NCAA Division I Team Championship, the NCAA announced Tuesday. The Tar Heels are the No. 2 seed in the 2013 event and will welcome Tennessee, VCU and South Carolina State to the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center May 10 and 11. The No. 2 seed is the highest in program history, matching the 2010 squad that advanced to the national semifinals.

Carolina will face MEAC champion South Carolina State at 1 p.m. on May 10. That match will follow the first-round meeting between Atlantic 10 champion VCU and SEC at-large selection Tennessee at 10 a.m. The two first-round winners will meet Saturday, May 11, at 11 a.m. for the right to advance to Urbana, Ill., this year’s final NCAA site.

Carolina is making its 15th consecutive appearance in the national tournament and 10th in a row under Kalbas. The Tar Heels have an all-time NCAA record of 26-14 and have advanced beyond the regional round on eight occasions, including last year’s run to the round of 16.

Tickets for the event are $5 for the general public and $3 for students and seniors. Gates will open one hour prior to play on both Friday and Saturday.

Friday, May 10
9 a.m. Gates Open
10 a.m. Tennessee vs. VCU
1 p.m. South Carolina State vs. North Carolina

Saturday, May 11
10 a.m. Gates Open
11 a.m. Second Round

NC State

For the second time in three years, the NC State women’s tennis team was awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championship, as announced Tuesday evening by the NCAA.

“I think the team’s hard work has paid off,” said head coach Hans Olsen. “For us, it’s very exciting and we will appreciate the opportunity to play more and improve as a team.”

NC State (14-9) will face Big East Champion Notre Dame (17-8) in the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Regional on Friday, May 10. With a victory, the Pack would face the winner of 10th-seeded Michigan and IPFW. The start times for the matches have not been announced.

“I think the team has learned to believe,” Olsen said. “A lot of these players were on the team last year and it’s almost like a reward for how hard they’ve worked. I think this tournament will give them another opportunity to show off that hard work.”

NC State last received a bid to the tournament in 2011, and will make its sixth overall appearance in program history.

In history, the two programs have never faced one another, but the first-round matchup between the Wolfpack and Fighting Irish will be a preview of what’s to come when Notre Dame officially joins the Atlantic Coast Conference next fall.

The two sides share common opponents this season in Duke, Georgia Tech and South Florida.

Duke

The 14th- ranked Duke women’s tennis team seek to improve upon last season’s trip the NCAA Final Four when it kicks off the NCAA Tournament Saturday, May 11 against Ole Miss in the opening round in Lubbock, Texas, as announced by the organization Tuesday. Under head coach Jamie Ashworth, the Blue Devils have reached the NCAA Final Four five times, highlighted by a trip to the 2009 NCAA Finals where they topped UCLA to claim the title.

“We are looking forward to the challenge of playing Ole Miss in the first round of this year’s NCAA tournament,” Ashworth said. “They are an extremely well coached team and we had a battle with them last year at the national team indoors. Coming out of the SEC they are used to tough matches and I know they will be ready to play. We have to have a great week of practice and prepare for what should be a really good match.

Duke has had a long history of success in the NCAA Tournament, earning bids to 24 consecutive tournaments, while totaling a 55-23 (.705) all-time record in the event. The Blue Devils’ .705 winning percentage is the fourth highest in the NCAA, and the squad has reached the NCAA Final Four eight times in program history.

The match against Ole Miss is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT, with the winner advancing to face the winner of Texas Tech and College of Charleston in the second round Sunday, May 12 at 1 p.m. CT.

Overall, eight ACC teams were selected to the 64-team field – the second-most of any conference in the nation behind only the Southeastern Conference (SEC) which received nine total bids.