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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s tennis team learned today that it will take on the No. 16 seed North Carolina in the first round of the 2011 NCAA tournament on May 13 in Urbana, Ill. This is the second consecutive appearance for the Colonels in the national event.
The University of Illinois will host the first and second round matches for four teams. The winner of the EKU/UNC match will face the winner of the Illinois/Drake match on May 14. All matches are scheduled to be played at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana.
Eastern Kentucky (21-4) enters the NCAA tourney on a nine-match winning streak. EKU’s 21 overall victories are the most in
Rob Oertel’s 10 years as EKU head coach. The Colonels cruised through the OVC regular season undefeated before defeating Jacksonville State and Austin Peay in the OVC tournament to earn the league’s automatic berth into the NCAAs.
Senior
Alex Das, the team’s top player, was named OVC Player of the Year for the second straight season after going undefeated in both OVC singles and doubles this spring.
Three other men’s tennis players earned All-OVC accolades – juniors
Philip Janz,
Hugo Klientovsky and
Niklas Schroeder. Klientovsky, EKU’s No. 2 player, earned first team honors for the second straight year. Schroeder and Janz, EKU’s No. 3 and No. 4 players, both came away with second team accolades.
North Carolina earned an at-large bid to the tournament from the ACC and goes into NCAA play 15-7, including wins in 12 of its past 15 matches. UNC has received 19 NCAA tournament bids in the past 20 years beginning in 1992. The Tar Heels have received bids every year since except 1999. UNC reached the quarterfinals in 1992 and the Round of 16 in 1993, 2006 and 2008.
First and second round competition will be conducted Friday-Sunday, May 13-15, at 16 different regional sites with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Team Championships at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., May 19-24.
