April 29, 2008

2008 NCAA Championships Bracket

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern will enter the NCAA Championships as the No. 1 national seed for the first time in program history. The Wildcats will host the first and second rounds of the tournament May 9-10.

The Wildcats, who are currently 26-1, will take on the University of Illinois-Chicago in first round play. The additional teams traveling to Evanston for the NCAA Regional, Indiana and Louisville, will face each other in the first round as well. The bracket for the individual singles and doubles portion of the Championships will be released Wednesday.

Northwestern head coach Claire Pollard conveyed excitement toward entering the postseason tournament. "In moving forward we are thrilled to be the No. 1 seed, but realize we have a lot of hard work ahead of us," said Pollard. "We'll just take it one match at a time, and for right now we are not going to look past UIC."

The Wildcats are rolling with a 20-match winning streak, and are now just six wins away from a potential national title. They hope to carry their efforts into Tulsa, Okla., the host site of the final three championship rounds.

Northwestern owns the all-time series with UIC, 5-0. In a potential second-round match up, a 6-1 victory over Indiana in the regular season closed the all-time series gap with the Hoosiers, 21-25. The Wildcats are on a 63-match conference winning streak. Northwestern and Louisville have never met in dual competition.

Below are the scheduled times and dates for the first two rounds of the NCAA championships. The matches will take place at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center, and moved indoors to the Combe Tennis Center in case of inclement weather.

First Round - Friday, May 9

10 a.m., Match 1: Louisville vs. Indiana
2 p.m., Match 2: UIC vs. No. 1 Northwestern

Second Round - Saturday, May 10

Noon, Match 3: Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2