INDIANAPOLIS – Slippery Rock University has been selected as a host site for the opening rounds of the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championships, the NCAA announced Wednesday night via a live webcast on www.ncaa.com.

The Rock will host a five-team event May 6-8 on the SRU outdoor courts. In case of inclement weather, matches will be moved indoors to the Oxford North Racquet Club in Wexford, Rock head coach Matt Meredith said.

SRU (19-5) will meet the winner of a May 6 (3 p.m.) play-in match between Shaw University of North Carolina and Indiana U. of Pa. in a match scheduled for 3 p.m. May 7.

The other match on May 7, scheduled for 12 noon, will pit Bloomsburg University against West Virginia Wesleyan College.

The winners of the May 7 matches will meet in a 12-noon match May 8 to determine one of the teams that will advance to Round of 16 competition May 12-15 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

If inclement weather forces the action to go indoors, the May 6 match will start at 8:30 p.m., the May 7 matches will start at 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and the May 8 match will start at 4 p.m., Meredith said.

The Rock is hosting an NCAA women's tennis competition for the first time since 2003, when the Green and White earned the first of their two berths in the Round of 16 competition with back-to-back 5-0 wins over Bentley (Mass.) and Indiana.

SRU returned to the Round of 16 in 2008 on the strength of a 5-0 opening-round win over Holy Family College and a 5-1 second-round win over hosting Bryant University in Providence, R.I.

The Rock was denied a second straight and third all-time third trip to the Round of 16 last spring by a 5-3 loss to hosting Bloomsburg in second-round action.

SRU will compete in the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight season and ninth time in the last 11 seasons.


Notes: Wednesday's announcement gives Slippery Rock its second NCAA regional tournament of the year, as The Rock men's soccer team also hosted the opening two rounds of the NCAA tournament during the fall.