May 8, 2003

The 12th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s tennis team will embark on its quest for a national title when it faces the Hampton Lady Pirates in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Regional Tennis Championship on Friday, May 9, at UK’s Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. The Cats are scheduled to play at 2 p.m. ET.

UK is seeded ninth in this year’s tournament and earned the privilege to host the first two rounds of competition for the second consecutive year. Miami and Purdue are the other two teams in the region and will meet at 10 a.m. ET, on Friday. The winners of each match will play on Saturday at approximately 3 p.m. The winner of the regional tournament will head to Gainesville, Fla., for the round of 16 and an opportunity to play for the national title. Last year, the UK women defeated Boston College and Georgia Tech on the way to their first-ever Sweet-16 berth.

“This is a great opportunity for our team,” senior co-captain Amy Trefethen said. “We were able to do well last year and we feel we will do even better this year. It’s great to be able to play the first two rounds at home and not have to worry about the travel. It gives us a huge advantage.”

The 13th-ranked UK men’s team also will play host to Ohio State, Arkansas and Hampton’s men’s team. Like the women, the men’s team also hosted last year and was able to advance to the Sweet-16. The men are seeded 13th in their bracket and will play Hampton on Saturday at Noon. The men’s regional championship will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Admission to the tournament is $5 for general admission and $3 for students with valid ID. Fans also may follow all the action live on the Internet at ukathletics.com.