Women's Tennis | 5/7/2012 3:05:00 PM

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Committee has selected the 49 teams that will compete in the 2012 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.

The teams will play a single-elimination tournament with the first, second and third rounds played at regional sites, May 11-13. Meredith College and the Town of Cary will host the team championships finals, which will be held May 21-23 at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C..

The championship provides for a 49-team tournament. Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 39 conference champions, which form "Pool A." Three teams are selected from true independents and schools from conferences that do not have an automatic bid for their champions (Pool B). The remaining eight teams are selected from those teams in conferences with automatic bids that did not win their conference's AQ and the remaining Pool B institutions (Pool C). The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.

Methodist received a "Pool A" bid after claiming their third straight USA South Athletic Conference Tournament Championship. The Monarchs earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking their fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in six years.

Emory University will serve as one of the hosts for the first, second and third rounds. Methodist (21-3) will take on Agnes Scott (15-3) in the first round and the winner will take on host Emory (15-5) in the second round. In the bottom half of the bracket, Ohio Northern (22-4) and Transylvania (11-1) will play in the first round to earn the right to take on Washington and Lee (20-5) in the second round. A detailed match schedule will be released by Tuesday afternoon if not earlier.

Methodist has not played any of the five teams Emory is hosting this weekend during the 2012 season. The last time the Monarchs played Agnes Scott, they won 7-2 Feb. 20, 2011. Two years ago the two teams battled in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and Methodist outlasted the Scotties 5-3.

Williams is the defending national champion, having defeated Amherst, 5-3, to claim the team title. For more information about the championship log on to www.ncaa.com.

NCAA Bracket
Tournament Website