COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women's tennis team received an at-large bid to the 64-team NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship and will open against the Denver Pioneers on Friday, May 13 at 1 p.m. (11 a.m. PT) at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Stanford, California, the NCAA announced today.
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The winner between Texas A&M (16-10) and Denver (21-2) will face the winner between No. 15 seed Stanford (14-5) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (24-0) in second round action on Saturday, May 14, also at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The time for the second-round match is to be determined.
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The second-round winner advances to the round of 16 and the final championship site, the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 19-24, with the University of Tulsa serving as host.
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"Now that the NCAA selections are out, it is nice to finally know who and where we are playing," A&M first-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "We definitely have a challenging draw in front of us, but the good news is we played about as difficult of a schedule as one could find so we should be more than ready to go. We started off the season by qualifying for the prestigious national indoors in Madison, Wisconsin, where we went on to face some extremely tough indoor teams. Shortly after, we went into the brutal SEC schedule, where there is truly nowhere to hide. We ended up playing some really good tennis once we passed the halfway point of the season. I feel that we have continued to make some good progress as we are continuing on to the finish line of the season."
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The Aggies (16-10) are making their 17th consecutive and 22nd overall appearance in the tournament. Last year, No. 10 seed Texas A&M reached the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive year and the fourth time in school history, defeating Alcorn State, 5-0, and TCU, 4-0, in the first two rounds at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station before falling to No. 7 seed UCLA, 4-1, in Waco, Texas. A&M's best finish in program history was runner-up at the 2013 NCAA Championship, where the Aggies fell to Stanford, 4-3, in the championship match at Urbana, Illinois.
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Denver received an automatic bid and is riding a 14-match win streak into the NCAA tournament after capturing its third consecutive Summit League tournament championship. The Pioneers, who fell to Ole Miss in the 2015 NCAA Championship first round, are making their sixth overall NCAA tournament appearance.
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"Denver is a very good team that I am sure is playing with a lot of confidence having won their conference and also their last 14 matches," Weaver said. "They have not lost a match since the first week of February, so we are definitely going to need to focus on playing some good tennis against them. The old saying 'take it one match at a time,' is definitely the message to relay to the team, as we sure need to take care of business with Denver before we start thinking about a second round matchup with Stanford. Â Stanford is no doubt one of the premier sites to compete at, and I am quite sure that the troops will be more than excited for the challenges that lie in front of us."
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In the only previous meeting between the two teams, A&M won its season opener by defeating Denver, 4-3, on Jan. 24, 2009, at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
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Seventeen-time NCAA champion Stanford is making its 35th consecutive appearance in the postseason tournament after earning the Pac-12's automatic berth, while the Islanders are making their second appearance in three years after going unscathed in the Southland Conference regular season and earning the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth after also winning the Southland Conference Tournament.
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Currently ranked 18th in the ITA team rankings, Texas A&M is one of 11 teams in the tournament field representing the Southeastern Conference. The Aggies tied Mississippi State for sixth place in the SEC regular season with a 7-6 record. A&M has not played since falling to No. 4 Georgia, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on April 22.
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NCAA FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
(Taube Family Tennis Stadium, Stanford, Calif.)
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Friday, May 13
Texas A&M (16-10) vs. Denver (21-2), 11 a.m. (1 p.m. CT)
No. 15 Stanford (14-5) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (24-0), 2 p.m. (4 p.m. CT)
Saturday, May 14
Texas A&M/Denver winner vs. No. 15 Stanford/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi winner, TBA
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TICKETS:
All seats are general admission. Single-day tickets are $8 (adult) and $5 (student/youth/senior). Tickets are available starting on Wednesday, May 4, either in person, by calling 1-800-STANFORD or visiting www.gostanford.com. Phone orders will be available at will call.
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TEXAS A&M TOURNAMENT FACTS:
Team Appearances....... 22 (1986, '89, '96, '97, '98, 2000, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '08, '09, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16)
All-Time Team Record.. 21-21
Best Finish...................... Finals (2013)
Highest Seed.................. 3 (2013)
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NOTES:
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWomensTennis.
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The winner between Texas A&M (16-10) and Denver (21-2) will face the winner between No. 15 seed Stanford (14-5) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (24-0) in second round action on Saturday, May 14, also at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The time for the second-round match is to be determined.
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The second-round winner advances to the round of 16 and the final championship site, the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 19-24, with the University of Tulsa serving as host.
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"Now that the NCAA selections are out, it is nice to finally know who and where we are playing," A&M first-year head coach Mark Weaver said. "We definitely have a challenging draw in front of us, but the good news is we played about as difficult of a schedule as one could find so we should be more than ready to go. We started off the season by qualifying for the prestigious national indoors in Madison, Wisconsin, where we went on to face some extremely tough indoor teams. Shortly after, we went into the brutal SEC schedule, where there is truly nowhere to hide. We ended up playing some really good tennis once we passed the halfway point of the season. I feel that we have continued to make some good progress as we are continuing on to the finish line of the season."
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The Aggies (16-10) are making their 17th consecutive and 22nd overall appearance in the tournament. Last year, No. 10 seed Texas A&M reached the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive year and the fourth time in school history, defeating Alcorn State, 5-0, and TCU, 4-0, in the first two rounds at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station before falling to No. 7 seed UCLA, 4-1, in Waco, Texas. A&M's best finish in program history was runner-up at the 2013 NCAA Championship, where the Aggies fell to Stanford, 4-3, in the championship match at Urbana, Illinois.
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Denver received an automatic bid and is riding a 14-match win streak into the NCAA tournament after capturing its third consecutive Summit League tournament championship. The Pioneers, who fell to Ole Miss in the 2015 NCAA Championship first round, are making their sixth overall NCAA tournament appearance.
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"Denver is a very good team that I am sure is playing with a lot of confidence having won their conference and also their last 14 matches," Weaver said. "They have not lost a match since the first week of February, so we are definitely going to need to focus on playing some good tennis against them. The old saying 'take it one match at a time,' is definitely the message to relay to the team, as we sure need to take care of business with Denver before we start thinking about a second round matchup with Stanford. Â Stanford is no doubt one of the premier sites to compete at, and I am quite sure that the troops will be more than excited for the challenges that lie in front of us."
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In the only previous meeting between the two teams, A&M won its season opener by defeating Denver, 4-3, on Jan. 24, 2009, at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
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Seventeen-time NCAA champion Stanford is making its 35th consecutive appearance in the postseason tournament after earning the Pac-12's automatic berth, while the Islanders are making their second appearance in three years after going unscathed in the Southland Conference regular season and earning the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth after also winning the Southland Conference Tournament.
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Currently ranked 18th in the ITA team rankings, Texas A&M is one of 11 teams in the tournament field representing the Southeastern Conference. The Aggies tied Mississippi State for sixth place in the SEC regular season with a 7-6 record. A&M has not played since falling to No. 4 Georgia, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on April 22.
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NCAA FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
(Taube Family Tennis Stadium, Stanford, Calif.)
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Friday, May 13
Texas A&M (16-10) vs. Denver (21-2), 11 a.m. (1 p.m. CT)
No. 15 Stanford (14-5) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (24-0), 2 p.m. (4 p.m. CT)
Saturday, May 14
Texas A&M/Denver winner vs. No. 15 Stanford/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi winner, TBA
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TICKETS:
All seats are general admission. Single-day tickets are $8 (adult) and $5 (student/youth/senior). Tickets are available starting on Wednesday, May 4, either in person, by calling 1-800-STANFORD or visiting www.gostanford.com. Phone orders will be available at will call.
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TEXAS A&M TOURNAMENT FACTS:
Team Appearances....... 22 (1986, '89, '96, '97, '98, 2000, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '08, '09, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16)
All-Time Team Record.. 21-21
Best Finish...................... Finals (2013)
Highest Seed.................. 3 (2013)
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NOTES:
- Texas A&M is making its 22nd overall and its 17th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship.
- A&M reached the finals of the 2013 NCAA Championship, marking the best finish in school history.
- Last year, 10th-seeded Texas A&M reached the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive year and fourth time overall , defeating Alcorn State, 5-0, and TCU, 4-0, in the first two rounds  at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station before falling to No. 7 seed UCLA, 4-1, at in Waco, Texas.
- A&M is one of 11 teams representing the SEC in the NCAA Championship. Other SEC teams, with seeds in parentheses, are Florida (2), Georgia (5), Vanderbilt (6), Auburn (11), South Carolina (13), Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
- Vanderbilt is the defending national champion.
- California is this year's No. 1 seed
- Texas A&M is 7-10 against the 2016 tournament field.
- Texas A&M went 7-6 in the SEC regular season, tying Mississippi State for sixth place.
- A&M was the No. 6 seed in the SEC Tournament and defeated No. 14 seed Alabama, 4-0, in the second round and fell to No. 3 seed Georgia, 4-1, in the quarterfinals.
- The NCAA Individual Championship participants (singles and doubles) will be posted at NCAA.com, Wednesday, May 4 no later than 5 p.m.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWomensTennis.