Women's Tennis Named to NCAA Tournament Field
6/21/1999 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 13, 1999
COLLEGE PARK, Md.--One week after it was not chosen among the field of 64 teams for the NCAA Tournament, the No. 41 University of Maryland women's tennis team (12-8) has been selected to replace Alabama State in the brackets. The selection makes school history with the program's third consecutive appearance, and by qualifying in all three facets (singles, doubles and team) of the NCAA championships. The Hornets dropped out on Thursday because they do not have enough players available to compete.
The Terps open the tournament this Saturday, May 15 at fourth-seeded and No. 4 ranked University of Mississippi beginning at 8:30 a.m. The Bulldogs are coming off an SEC Tournament Championship, in which they knocked off No. 1 Florida in the finals. Mississippi finished the season at 21-5 overall. In 1998, Maryland lost to Kentucky, 5-3, in the NCAA regionals.
On May 5, the NCAA Selection committee overlooked Maryland and two other top 50 ACC schools-Georgia Tech and Virginia-who also expected to receive bids. Surprisingly, the NCAA honored six Big 10 teams and only four ACC schools, despite a decisive 14-1 regular season edge by the ACC in head-to-head duals. In the latest ITA rankings, four Big 10 teams were selected over the No. 40 Yellow Jackets including sub-.500 Wisconsin.
Last week, senior Meg Griffin (Topeka, Kan.) was selected for the singles competition and will join junior Lorraine Bittles (Nashville, Tenn.) for their second consecutive doubles appearance. Individually, Griffin, who is 20-5, becomes the third Maryland women's tennis player to qualify for singles. Jeri Ingram, in 1989, and Claudia Borgiani, in 1985, reached postseason play after both were ACC No. 1 singles champs. Griffin and Bittles, currently No. 20, have been ranked for the last two years. In 1998, the duo was ousted by a 19th-ranked team from Marquette in three grueling sets. They have a 19-11 record so far this season.
