May 6, 2004
NCAA Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
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The University of Iowa women’s tennis team was selected to compete in its fourth NCAA Tournament. Iowa (14-9) will play Notre Dame (11-11) in the first round Saturday, May 15 in Evanston, IL. The match will begin at 2 p.m. at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center on the campus of Northwestern.
The six-time defending Big Ten Champion Northwestern Wildcats were selected as one of the 16 regional site hosts. Northwestern (23-4) will face Illinois-Chicago (12-7) in the other first round match-up. The two winners will face each other Sunday, May 16 at noon, with that winner advancing to the NCAA Championships in Athens, GA.
“We are all excited to be back in the tournament after a two-year hiatus,” said Iowa Head Coach Paul Wardlaw. “We are proud of what this young team has accomplished this year. We have a good draw and are very familiar with the teams in our regional.”
Iowa has won three of its last four matches heading into the NCAA Tournament. Last week, the seventh-seeded Hawkeyes toppled 10th-seeded Minnesota (4-0) and second-seeded Indiana (4-3) to advance to the semifinals of the Big Ten Championship before falling to sixth-seeded Ohio State (4-3). The championship was held on the Northwestern campus.
The Hawkeyes are 2-3 in NCAA Tournament matches. Playing in its first NCAA Tournament in 1999, Iowa upset Florida State (5-4) and Notre Dame (5-4) to advance to its first ever NCAA Championships, where the Hawkeyes eventually fell to Duke in the “Sweet Sixteen”. The Hawkeyes lost to LSU (5-3) in 2000 and North Carolina (4-1) in 2001.
SCHEDULE OF COMPETITION
All times tentative
Saturday, May 15
10 a.m. — Northwestern vs. Illinois-Chicago
2 p.m. — Notre Dame vs. Iowa
Sunday, May 16
Noon — Regional Final