April 29, 2008

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Furman women's tennis team will take on the Michigan Wolverines in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Tournament, the NCAA announced today. The regional features three South Carolina teams and will be held at Clemson University.

#69 Furman (19-5) will face #19 Michigan (18-5) on Friday, May 9 at Clemson University. The two teams have never met before.

"It's very exciting to play a team we haven't played during the regular season," commented head coach Debbie Southern. "We don't know a whole lot about Michigan, but we will try to find out as much as we can in the next week and a half. We do know that they are a very good Big Ten school, with a very good record, and we are looking forward to the opportunity."

Furman earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a 4-0 victory over Davidson in the Southern Conference tournament finals. Michigan earned an at-large bid, after falling to top-seeded Northwestern in the Big Ten conference title match.

The Wolverine squad features two ranked singles players, and one ranked doubles team. Junior Chisako Sugiyama is ranked 50th in the most recent ITA poll, while teammate Tania Mahtani has earned a 112th-place ranking. The duo also ranks 40th in the doubles poll. For Furman, junior Laura Gioia is ranked 86th in the latest ITA singles poll.

2008 marks the women's tennis team's fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance and ninth overall.