No. 31 Women’s Tennis Set for NCAA Regional
STILLWATER, Okla. – The No. 31 University of Arkansas women’s tennis team is set to take on the UCLA Bruins in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 at the Stillwater Regional on Saturday, May 7 at 1 p.m. CT.
Arkansas has had an impressive season under first-year head coach Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, finishing the regular season 16-9 overall and 8-5 in Southeastern Conference play. The Razorbacks finished fifth in the SEC with eight wins, its most conference wins since 2009.
The Razorbacks are making their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, and 20th trip in program history. This is Arkansas’ fourth regional in Stillwater, and its first regional against UCLA. The Hogs and Bruins have faced off twice before, both times in the 2008 season with UCLA coming out on top in each. The two last met in the NCAA Championships quarterfinals where the Bruins defeated the Razorbacks to go on and win their first national championship.
UCLA is 12-6 overall this season and 7-1 in Pac-12 play, coming off a loss to Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. The Bruins are led by No. 25 Abbey Forbes who was named First Team All-Pac 12 and posted a 10-2 record at the No. 1 spot this season and 13-4 overall. Forbes is 5-4 against nationally-ranked opponents and 8-6 in doubles play.
The winner of Arkansas-UCLA will play the winner of New Mexico State-Oklahoma State on Sunday, May 8 at 2 p.m. CT.
First- and second-round competition takes place May 6-8 and features four teams playing in a single-elimination format. The winner of each site advances to the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois, where the 16 teams will compete for the national championship May 19-28.
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