NORFOLK, Va. -- The 33rd-ranked Old Dominion women's tennis team opens play in the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 2 p.m. against 31st-ranked South Carolina in a regional hosted by national top-seed North Carolina at the Chewning Tennis Center. With a win, ODU (18-4) will face the winner of North Carolina and Charleston Southern on Saturday at 4 p.m. for a spot in the Super Regional weekend on May 12.
Live Stats and video
The match will have live stats and video stream.
Non Power Five Schools With Both In Tennis Tournaments
ODU, Drake, ETSU, Pepperdine, SC State, San Diego and Texas A&M Corpus Christi are the only non Power Five schools that have both teams in the NCAA Tournaments.
Monarchs in the NCAA Tournament
This is the fifth all-time appearance for ODU in the NCAA Tournament and fourth in a row. In 2022, the Monarchs defeated Furman (5-0) and lost to Duke (4-1) in a regional hosted by Duke. In 2021, ODU scored its first NCAA Tournament win defeating Arkansas (4-2) and then lost to North Carolina (4-0) in a regional at Chapel Hill, N.C. With Covid-19 cancelling the 2020 tournament, the Monarchs streak had started as they made a regional hosted by South Carolina in 2019 and fell 4-2 to Virginia. The first NCAA appearance was in the 2001 Tournament hosted at ODU when they fell 4-3 to South Alabama.
Loaded non-conference schedule
ODU faced a challenging schedule playing seven matches against teams that earned bids to the 2023 NCAA Tournament: Princeton, Florida State, Kansas, Iowa State, Ohio State, Wake Forest (twice)
Tanya POTW
Tatsiana Sasnouskaya was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year after a senior season that saw her finish 20-5 and a perfect 6-0 in the Sun Belt. She has five wins over nationally-ranked opponents this year and will enter the team tournament on a nine-match winning streak. She was joined on First Team All-Conference singles team by Sofia Johnson and both were named to First Team All-Conference Doubles.
NCAA Individuals
With the announcement Tuesday of the individual qualifiers for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, this will mark the third year that ODU has had individuals make the championships. Sasnouskaya will participate in the singles event as the highest-ranked Sun Belt Conference player currently ranked 33rd nationally. She and Sofia Johnson have also qualified in doubles as the highest-ranked Sun Belt duo currently 42ndwith an 18-6 record this year.
Balanced
The Monarchs start postseason play with a balanced lineup as five players have double figure wins in the dual match season. Alexandra Viktorovitch is 15-3 to lead the team and is in a 13-match winning streak mainly at line five. Shahar Biran (13-2) and Sasnouskaya (13-3) are right behind, while Johnson (12-5) and Alesya Yakubovich (11-6) are also in double figures.
Scouting South Carolina
South Carolina enters the tournament after a first-round loss in the SEC Championship to Kentucky 4-3 on April 20. Ayana Akil leads the Gamecocks in wins this spring with a 16-2 record at line one singles. In doubles, Ana Cruz and Allie Gretkowski have a team best 12-5 mark with Akil and Sarah Hammer behind with a 9-2 mark at line one. This will be the second all-time meeting between the schools with South Carolina taking a 7-0 win on March 18, 2012 in Columbia, South Carolina.
Coach Quote
"The hard work of the season is complete. Winning bigger matches in bigger tournaments is the goal. We have a good opportunity against South Carolina," said ODU Head Coach Dominic Manilla.
Women's Tennis Starts Fourth Straight NCAA Regional Appearance Friday With South Carolina
