University of Georgia Athletics
Road to the NCAAs: The Championship Field
May 16, 2007 | General
ROAD TO THE NCAAs
Part 12 of 12 installments of NCAA Tennis features leading up to the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tennis Championships to be held in Athens -- to view the previous 11 visit the Tournament Information Center at georgiadogs.com.
Championship Field
The fields are set. Sixteen teams remain on the men’s side. Sixteen are left on the women’s side as well. What’s left of a long season of tennis is four matches at most for these teams all hoping to do the same thing in Athens win an NCAA Championship.
For the men, 13 of the top 16 teams advanced to the NCAA Championships by winning first and second round contests on their home courts. Three of those top 16 were not quite as fortunate. All three of those teams hail from the ACC, one upset by a fellow conference member and the other two by SEC teams. N.C. State ousted the No. 6-seeded North Carolina Tarheels in dominating 4-0 fashion. Then No. 14-seeded Duke and No. 16-seeded Florida State were both shocked on their home courts by SEC members Alabama and Florida, respectively.
Those results give the SEC more teams in the men’s championships than any conference with five. Top-seeded Georgia, No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 15 LSU advanced as well. The ACC and Big 12 follow with three each.
Last year’s NCAA Champion will not be in attendance in Athens, as Pepperdine fell in the Round of 32 to USC, 4-0.
The Round of 16 in Athens pits a couple familiar conference rivals against one another. ACC foes Virginia (4 seed) and Wake Forest (13 seed) will battle for a quarterfinal spot. Virginia won the regular-season contest, 4-2, and then defeated the Demon Deacons, 4-0, in the ACC Tournament. A fierce rivalry in any sport, Georgia and Florida also will play each other in the Round of 16. Georgia won the regular-season decision 6-1 in Gainesville, that one loss coming from John Isner the senior’s lone defeat in dual matches this year.
The Round of 16 has several other intriguing match-ups. No. 5-seeded Notre Dame and 12-seeded USC get each other in that round. LSU (15 seed) also gets No. 2 Ohio State. The Tigers fell just short, 4-2, in Baton Rouge earlier in the year.
Here is a look at this 16 men’s teams coming to Athens their seed, record and road to get here:
#1 GEORGIA
Record: 28-0
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Fairleigh Dickinson 4-0
Second Round def. Auburn, 4-0
#2 OHIO STATE
Record: 29-1
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Columbia 4-0
Second Round def. Tennessee 4-1
#3 BAYLOR
Record: 26-3
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Oral Roberts 4-0
Second Round def. Texas A&M 4-0
#4 VIRGINIA
Record: 28-3
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Hampton 4-0
Second Round def. Old Dominion 4-0
#5 NOTRE DAME
Record: 26-3
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Butler 4-0
Second Round def. Wisconsin 4-3
#7 MISSISSIPPI
Record: 24-4
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Jacksonville State 4-0
Second Round def. South Alabama, 4-1
#8 OKLAHOMA STATE
Record: 19-4
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Sacramento State 4-0
Second Round def. Oklahoma 4-0
#9 UCLA
Record: 21-3
Road to Athens:
First Round def. UNLV 4-0
Second Round def. Texas Tech 4-0
#10 ILLINOIS
Record: 20-8
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Western Michigan 4-0
Second Round def. Michigan 4-2
#11 TEXAS
Record: 20-8
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Navy 4-0
Second Round def. Boise State 4-2
#12 USC
Record: 22-2
Road to Athens:
First Round def. UC Santa Barbara 4-0
Second Round def. Pepperdine 4-0
#13 WAKE FOREST
Record: 23-6
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Charlotte 4-0
Second Round def. Clemson 4-3
#15 LSU
Record: 18-6
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Alcorn State 4-0
Second Round def. Vanderbilt 4-0
#17-32 ALABAMA
Record: 22-7
Road to Athens:
First Round def. East Tennessee State 4-2
Second Round def. #14 Duke 4-3
#17-32 N.C. STATE
Record: 22-9
Road to Athens:
First Round def. William & Mary 4-0
Second Round def. #6 North Carolina 4-0
#17-32 FLORIDA
Record: 15-7
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Georgia Tech 4-1
Second Round def. Florida State 4-3
For the women, all 16 teams hosting NCAA First and Second Rounds on their home courts advanced to the NCAA Championships. Half of them did so by posting two 4-0 shutouts in the opening rounds.
The ACC and Pac-10 both have four women’s teams coming to Athens, while the SEC follows with three. That leaves only five teams in the Round of 16 not from those leagues. No conference rivals will have to face each other in the women’s bracket until the quarterfinals, where potential match-ups between UNC and Georgia Tech and between Stanford and USC could play out.
The host and second-seeded Bulldogs will play 15th-seeded William & Mary in the Round of 16. Those two teams represented the last two of three unbeaten teams in the country until both dropping contests in late March. Georgia (23-1) has not lost a match since, while William & Mary enters the match-up with a 22-2 record.
Three-time defending national champion and top-seeded Stanford is set for a Round of 16 match-up with 16th-seeded Vanderbilt. The Cardinal (22-1) have lost only one match the last three seasons to Georgia Tech in this year’s NCAA Team Indoor Championships. Vanderbilt, despite a slow 2-5 start to its season, finished the year winning 17 of its last 20 matches and has a 19-8 record.
National Team Indoor champion Georgia Tech is the tournament’s third seed and will face Fresno State in the Round of 16. Should both the Yellow Jackets and the Georgia Bulldogs advance, the in-state rivals could face a potential rematch in the semifinals. Georgia won the regular-season decision in Athens, 5-2.
Here is a look at this 16 women’s teams coming to Athens their seed, record and road to get here:
#1 STANFORD
Record: 22-1
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Sacramento State 4-1
Second Round def. BYU 4-0
#2 GEORGIA
Record: 23-1
Road to Athens:
First Round def. South Carolina State 4-0
Second Round def. Auburn 4-0
#3 GEORGIA TECH
Record: 25-4
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Furman 4-0
Second Round def. Kentucky 4-0
#4 FLORIDA
Record: 23-2
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Jacksonville 4-0
Second Round def. South Florida 4-1
#5 NORTHWESTERN
Record: 23-4
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Western Michigan 4-0
Second Round def. Indiana 4-1
#6 NOTRE DAME
Record: 27-3
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Illinois-Chicago 4-0
Second Round def. Michigan 4-0
#7 CLEMSON
Record: 22-4
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Coastal Carolina 4-0
Second Round def. Virginia 4-1
#8 USC
Record: 19-4
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Boston University 4-0
Second Round def. Texas 4-0
#9 MIAMI
Record: 21-6
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Alabama A&M 4-0
Second Round def. Wichita State 4-0
#10 CALIFORNIA
Record: 21-6
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Southeastern Louisiana 4-1
Second Round def. Arizona State 4-0
#11 NORTH CAROLINA
Record: 23-8
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Marist 4-0
Second Round def. Duke 4-1
#12 UCLA
Record: 18-7
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Quinnipiac 4-0
Second Round def. Florida State 4-2
#13 BAYLOR
Record: 24-6
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Oral Roberts 4-0
Second Round def. Texas A&M 4-0
#14 FRESNO STATE
Record: 22-3
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Army 4-0
Second Round def. Pepperdine 4-0
#15 WILLIAM & MARY
Record: 22-2
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Richmond 4-0
Second Round def. Wake Forest 4-1
#16 VANDERBILT
Record: 19-8
Road to Athens:
First Round def. Marray State 4-0
Second Round def. Tennessee 4-0
