May 3, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 35-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team earned its 17th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid Tuesday and will face No. 34 Arizona in the first round May 14 in Gainesville, Fla. Also competing in the Gainesville regional will be No. 1 Florida and South Carolina State, who play May 14 as well. The winners will square off May 15 for the right to play in Stanford, Calif., at the NCAA Championships from May 20-24.

The Gamecocks enter the tournament with a 13-10 record overall and went 4-7 in SEC play. Individually, Anya Morgina and Dijana Stojic are South Carolina’s two ranked singles players at Nos. 44 and 96. Morgina holds a No. 40 ranking in doubles with Dominika Kanakova, while Stojic is 84th with Kanakova. Morgina was a first-team All-SEC selection and Stojic made the second team for the second year in a row and was named the team’s MVP as well.

Overall, South Carolina has now been selected for the NCAA Tournament 21 times. 2011 marks the 30th year the NCAA has sponsored a championship in women’s tennis. With 21 bids, South Carolina is tied for 14th for the most NCAA appearances in the country. South Carolina’s 17 NCAA appearances in a row is the 11th longest active streak in the country. South Carolina has reached the round of 16 six times (1983, 1983, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2009) and advanced as far as the quarterfinals twice (1982, 2009).

Individual selections for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will be posted Wednesday on NCAA.com no later than 6 p.m. Stanford will also host the individual championships from May 25-30.