May 1, 2012

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 29-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team earned its 18th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid Tuesday and will face No. 32 TCU in the first round May 11 in Durham, N.C. Also competing in the Durham regional will be No. 3 Duke and Winthrop, who play May 11 as well. The winners will square off May 12 for the right to play at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., at the NCAA Championships from May 17-22.

“We are very happy and excited this is our 18th year in a row competing in the NCAA Tournament,” interim head coach Katarina Petrovic said. “We are confident, but we know it’s going to be tough against TCU. They are a very good, young team and we’ll have to work hard to get ready for that match.”

The Gamecocks enter the tournament with a 15-8 record overall and went 5-6 in SEC play. Individually, Anya Morgina, Dijana Stojic and Jaklin Alawi are South Carolina’s three ranked singles players at Nos. 42, 73 and 88. Stojic holds a No. 41 ranking in doubles with Alawi, while Morgina is 65th with Alawi. Morgina and Alawi were both named to the All-SEC Second Team and Alawi was named the team’s MVP as well.

Overall, South Carolina has now been selected for the NCAA Tournament 22 times. 2012 marks the 31st year the NCAA has sponsored a championship in women’s tennis. With 22 bids, South Carolina is tied for 13th for the most NCAA appearances in the country. South Carolina’s 18 NCAA appearances in a row is tied for 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 after 6 p.m. Georgia will also host the individual championships from May 23-28.

NCAA TOURNAMENT RANKINGS