May 1, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 21 Auburn women's tennis team will be taking on Winthrop in the opening the round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, May 11, at 11 a.m. at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta, Ga., as No. 4 Georgia Tech will be hosting the regional, the NCAA announced on Tuesday.
The winner will advance to take on the winner of No. 4 Georgia Tech (21-5, 12-2 ACC) and Eastern Kentucky (16-8, 9-0 OVC) on May 12 at noon in a battle to determine who will advance to the Round of 16 at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Wake Forest University will host the remainder of the tournament May 17-22.
This is the 11th time in program history Auburn has earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament, and the sixth straight year under head coach Lauren Spencer. As associate head coach Chris Hooshyar is in his fifth season the Plains, Auburn has been in the NCAA Tournament each year since his arrival. The Tigers will be looking to further their previous success as they advanced to the Round of 16 each of the last two seasons.
Auburn finished the regular season at 20-10 on the season and 8-5 in SEC play. The Tigers have two ranked singles players going into the postseason in No. 53 Jaeda Daniel and No. 100 Alizee Michaud, both of whom recently earned All-SEC honors last week.
Winthrop will head into the tournament as Big South Conference champions for the 20th time in program history, going 19-5 overall with an undefeated mark of 8-0 in Big South Conference play. The Eagles currently boast the No. 36 singles player in the country in Lauren Proctor along with the No. 35 ranked doubles tandem of Proctor and Megan Kauffman, as ranked by the ITA.
As announced previously by Georgia Tech, admission to the regional will be free for any spectators. Parking will be available for $5 in the Family Housing Deck located on 10th street.
The NCAA singles and doubles selection announcement will be announced on Wednesday, May 2 on NCAA.com.