May 25, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -
NCAA Women's Singles Championship bracket in PDF Format 
Texas A&M's Elzé Potgieter and Nazari Urbina will make history when they open play at the NCAA Division I Women's Singles Championships beginning Wednesday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Ga.
Not only does this mark the first time in school history A&M has two players competing for the national singles title, but Urbina also will be A&M's first-ever freshman to compete in the prestigious event.
The NCAA announced the 64-player bracket today, and Urbina opens play against No. 9-16 seed Caitlin Whoriskey of Tennessee on Wednesday at 9 a.m. (CT). The winner will advance to the Round of 32 to face the winner between No. 25 Nadine Falhoum of Old Dominion and No. 48 Nadja Gilchrist of Georgia on Thursday.
Potgieter, a senior appearing in her first NCAA Singles Championships, faces 31st-ranked Alison Ramos of USC at 4:30 p.m. (CT).
Urbina, the 2010 ITA Texas Region Player to Watch and listed No. 51 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, is 32-5 (.865) in singles, ranking fourth in the A&M records for most wins in a season. An All-Big 12 selection in both singles and doubles and the Big 12 Conference No. 2 singles champion with a 10-0 record, she enters the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships riding a nine-match winning streak.
Urbina went 21-2 in dual matches only, going 2-1 at the No. 1 line, 14-0 at No. 2 and 5-1 at No. 3. She is 9-3 against nationally ranked players, including a straight-set 6-3, 6-4 victory over 18th-ranked Nina Secerbegovic of Baylor at the No. 2 line on April 14, as well as a 6-3, 6-3 win against 43rd-ranked Irene Rehberger at the No. 1 position in the Aggies' season-ending 4-2 loss to No. 26 South Florida in the first round of the NCAA Championships.
Potgieter is currently ranked No. 56 in the nation in singles and has been ranked as high as No. 33 this season. She played all but three matches at the No. 1 line, where she is 11-10. Potgieter, who opened the spring season with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over then-No. 9 Josipa Bek of Clemson, is 20-15 overall, and her 90 career victories ranks seventh in the A&M records.
Live scoring and live video of each match at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex will be available at the tournament central page: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/c-tennis/champpage/c-tennis-div1-index.html
Notes: This is the first year A&M has been represented in the individual championships since 2007, when Anna Lubinsky competed in singles and Sarah Foster and Tiffany Clifford competed in doubles...Kim Labuschagne holds A&M's best finish in an NCAA Singles Championship, advancing to the quarterfinals at the 1987 tournament in Los Angeles...Potgieter and Urbina were alternates for the NCAA Doubles Championships but did not make it into the 32-team bracket...Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech is the No. 1 seed in the singles championships.