LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The No. 23 Wildcats (15-9 overall) received the team?s 12th consecutive and 18th NCAA Tournament berth and will be pitted against the No. 44 Boise State Broncos (20-6).
UK will head to Nashville, Tenn. for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at host school and SEC rival, No. 11 Vanderbilt. The first round of matches will take place on May 9 at 11 a.m. ET with Vanderbilt matching-up with No. 70 Indiana State at 2 p.m. ET. The winners of both matches will play Saturday May 10 at 1 p.m. ET for the right to advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
UK has participated in the NCAA Tournament a total of 18 times since 1986, with the team?s best finish being in 1988 and again in 2005 when the Cats reached the quarterfinals. Last year the Wildcats lost to Georgia Tech 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Atlanta, Ga. Kentucky?s record in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is 14-6.
The Cats are led by No. 85 Megan Broderick and sophomore Christine Johnston. Both athletes carry winning records, 18-5 and 18-4, respectively. Broderick and Johnston have been strong players throughout the year, each honored with Freshman and Athlete of the Week at least once and named to the second team All-SEC. Johnston is a part of the No. 37 doubles pair with junior Carolina Escamilla. The duo has been ranked as high as No. 20 on the season and will travel to the NCAA Doubles Championship in Tulsa, Okla. as the second alternates.
Boise State was the Western Athletic Conference runner-up to Fresno State for the second year in a row. The Broncos face the Wildcats for the first time in regular or post-season play while making their fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament. At the first round of the 2007 NCAA Regional tournament, BSU fell to first-seed Indiana, 4-2.
BSU?s No. 1 and No. 2 positions are fielded by Pichittra Thongdach and Polina Kokoulina, respectively. Thongdach carries a 15-8 singles record while Kokoulina boasts 15-9 in the second position. Both Bronco players occupy the No. 1 spot in doubles play with an 18-5 record and have been ranked as high as No. 40 during the season.
Kentucky has played 15 of the 64 teams playing in the NCAAtournament this year, eight of which are from the SEC. Of the 15 teams, UKhas defeated eight of them, with three upsets against Michigan, Clemson, and Tennessee, and two sweeps against Michigan and Winthrop. All wins were against top-30 teams while the eight losses were also to top-30 teams, five of which were top-10 teams including No. 1 Georgia Tech.
UK has never seen action against the Sycamore?s, but the Cats are quite familiar with the Commodores. Kentucky and Vanderbilt played in Nashville during the regular season, with a UK loss, 5-2. The successor of both rounds will advance to the ?Sweet Sixteen? in Tulsa, Okla. during May 15-26 at the University of Tulsa.
Tournament information and live stats will be available at http://vucommodores.cstv.com. Full NCAA Tournament information can be found at www.ncaa.com. For complete coverage of the Kentucky women?s tennis team visit, www.ukathletics.com.
