AASU Hosts NCAA DII Men's & Women's Tennis Southeast Regional

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Armstrong Atlantic State men's and women's tennis teams will host the 2009 NCAA Division II Men's & Women's Tennis Southeast Regional on May 7-9, beginning defense of their national championships from the 2008 season.

The Pirates and the Lady Pirates are attempting to become back-to-back NCAA Champions and will host five other men's and four other women's teams in three days of action next week.

AASU (24-1) is the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II and is also the top seeded team in the men's side of the bracket. USC Aiken (18-4) is the second seed for the regional, and both teams receive first-round byes. The first men's match will take place on Thursday, May 7, with No. 17-ranked Francis Marion (15-5) taking on Mars Hill (13-5) at 2:00 p.m. The other first-round match features No. 24-ranked Augusta State (10-10) against No. 18-ranked Lander (8-8) at 5:00 p.m.

The winner of the Francis Marion/Mars Hill match will meet USC Aiken at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, May 8, with the winner of Augusta State and Lander taking on host AASU at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The Men's region final will be at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 9.

On the women's side, the No. 3-ranked Lady Pirates (22-1) are the top-seeded team in the five-team bracket. There will be only one first-round match on Thursday, May 7, with Carson-Newman (13-2) taking on Tusculum (17-5) at 11:00 a.m. AASU will play the winner of the Carson-Newman/Tusculum match at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, May 8, with No. 11-ranked Clayton State (10-6) taking on No. 19-ranked Augusta State (13-7) at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.

The Women's region final will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 9.

The winners of the men's and women's regional advance to the 2009 NCAA Divison II Tennis Championships on May 13-16 at the Sanlando Regional Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Full coverage of the regional can be found at the following site, including live stats of matches, complete box scores and recaps as well as a live webcam during the regional: http://aasupirates.com/insideAthletics/news/2009ncaatennisregional