Four Big Ten Teams Earn Bids To 2023 NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament

 
ROSEMONT, Ill. (May 1, 2023) – Four Big Ten Conference schools earned berths into the 2023 NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament, it was announced Monday evening. It’s the most programs the conference has sent to the NCAA Tournament since 2019, when five schools qualified.
 
Michigan (22-3) captured the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning its second consecutive Big Ten Tournament title Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines are the No. 5 national seed for this year’s NCAA Tournament, the second highest seed in program history and highest since a No. 4 seed in 2010. Michigan will be making its 21st consecutive postseason appearance and 24th overall, with its best finish being a trip to the quarterfinals in 2016.
 
For the first time since 2019 and ninth time overall, the Wolverines will play host to first- and second-round matches at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Wolverines will take on Youngstown State at 2 p.m. (ET) Friday, preceded by the other first-round match on the Michigan campus as Ball State and Notre Dame meet at 11 a.m. (ET). The victors will advance to a second-round contest at 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday.
 
Ohio State (20-7) received the No. 10 national seed for the NCAA Tournament following a berth in the Big Ten Tournament championship match. The Buckeyes will be making their 19th NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth in a row, having posted the best finish ever by a Big Ten school in the postseason with a spot in the national semifinals in 2017.
 
OSU likewise will play host to first- and second-round matches this weekend at the Auer Tennis Complex in Columbus, Ohio. This will be the sixth time and third consecutive year the Buckeyes have started NCAA Tournament play at home. Ohio State will take on Xavier in the first round at 1 p.m. (ET) Friday, following the other first-round match featuring Vanderbilt and East Tennessee State (10 a.m. ET). The winners will play their second-round match at 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday.
 
Illinois (18-9) is returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years and the 14th time in program history, with its best finish being second-round berths on four occasions (most recently in 2018). The Fighting Illini finished third in the Big Ten standings and advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2019. Illinois will begin this year’s NCAA Tournament with a first-round match against Florida State at 10 a.m. (ET) Friday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia. With a win, the Fighting Illini would move into a second-round match against either host (and fourth-seeded) Georgia or Florida A&M at 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday.
 
Wisconsin (19-6) is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four seasons and the ninth time overall, highlighted by a trip to the round of 16 in 1997. The Badgers placed fourth in the Big Ten this season and also reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. Wisconsin will play LSU in an NCAA first-round match at noon (ET) Friday at Ames (Iowa) High School, with host (and No. 11 national seed) Iowa State and Drake meeting in the other first-round contest. Should the matches be moved indoors due to weather, they would be played at Life Time Fitness in Urbandale, Iowa, with the Wisconsin-LSU match moved to 3 p.m. (ET) Friday. The victors will play a second-round contest Saturday at either 2 p.m. ET (if outdoors) or 7 p.m. ET (if indoors).
 
The teams advancing out of the 16 first- and second-round sites will move to a single-elimination super regional contest on either May 12 or 13 on the campus of the higher remaining seed. The super regional winners will advance to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, where the eight teams will compete for the national championship May 17-20.
 
Big Ten Conference (bigten.org) is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching, and public service. Founded in 1896, Big Ten Conference has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness, and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten Conference institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,800 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. Big Ten Conference sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s lacrosse since 2013.