NCAA Championships
Power-Packed Elite Eight Field Set for NCAA Division I
by Rhiannon Potkey, 16 May 2023
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The Virginia men and Texas women are back to defend their titles, while several programs continue their quest for an elusive inaugural crown.
The quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Championship will have plenty of intrigue this week at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. What it won’t have is a team from outside the Power Five conferences represented.
The SEC leads all conferences with a combined five teams, the Big 12 has four, the Big Ten and ACC each have three and the Pac-12 has one. Texas, Georgia and Michigan will have both their men’s and women’s programs competing in the Elite Eight.
The women’s quarterfinals matches are scheduled for Wednesday and the men take the courts on Thursday. Both the men’s and women’s semifinals are scheduled for Friday and the championship matches for Saturday.
The quarterfinals will be streamed live on Playsight, with commentary provided on the Cracked Racquets’ YouTube Channel. The semifinals and finals will be televised live on Tennis Channel.
Women
Top-seeded UNC has reached the quarterfinals for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons and 12th time overall. But the Tar Heels have yet to win a title, falling short in their only final appearance in 2014.
UNC will be facing two-time defending NCAA champion Texas. The Longhorns are in the Elite Eight for the third straight year and 13th time in program history.
No. 2 Texas A&M has reached the quarterfinals for the second straight season and plays No. 7 Stanford. The No. 2 seed is the highest in program history for the Aggies. A&M has made the final only one time in program history. Their opponent in that 2013 match? Stanford.
The Cardinal have won 20 of the possible 40 NCAA titles and reached the final seven other times. Stanford is one of only four programs to appear in all 41 NCAA tournaments, and arrives in Orlando riding a 21-match winning streak.
No. 11 Iowa State has prolonged its breakout season as the lowest-seeded team in either bracket still alive. The Cyclones had never advanced beyond the first weekend of play before this season. They will make their Elite Eight debut against No. 3 NC State, another program that has risen to prominence over the last few seasons. The Wolfpack are making their third straight Elite Eight appearance.
No. 4 Georgia is hoping to send head coach Jeff Wallace out on a high note with the program’s third NCAA title. Wallace recently announced he will retire at the end of the season after 38 seasons leading the Dawgs. Georgia will play No. 5 Michigan for the chance to reach its 13th Final Four.
The Wolverines advanced to the Elite Eight for only the second time in program history. Michigan trailed Virginia 2-0 in the Super Regional, but rallied for four straight singles wins to clinch the spot.
Men
Top-seeded Texas will face No. 9 South Carolina in a pairing of future SEC opponents once the Longhorns and Oklahoma move from the Big 12 to the SEC on July 1, 2024. Texas captured the program’s first NCAA title in 2019. South Carolina is making its first Elite Eight appearance since 1989, when the Gamecocks reached the semifinals for the best finish in program history. Texas beat the Gamecocks 4-3 in 2021 in the Round of 16 at the USTA National Campus.
No. 2 TCU has reached the quarterfinals four straight times and six times in the last eight seasons - the most by any men’s program in the nation since 2015. But the Horned Frogs, who are the two-time defending ITA National Indoor champions, have yet to reach the NCAA championship match in 33 tournament appearances.
TCU will be playing No. 4 Michigan, which beat USC in a Super Regional thriller, to reach the quarterfinals for the second straight year. The Wolverines won their only title in 1957.
The quarterfinal match between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 6 Georgia will be a showdown of coaching veterans. Georgia head coach Manny Diaz is in his 35th season and Ohio State coach Ty Tucker is in his 23rd.
Ohio State, which arrives on a 17-match winning streak, will be appearing in the quarterfinals for the 16th time. But the Buckeyes have yet to capture a national title. They have lost in the finals twice (2018, 2009). Georgia has reached the quarterfinals 27 times under Diaz and are attempting to win the program’s seventh NCAA title.
The bottom half of the men’s Elite Eight draw features the exact same matchups as this year’s College Football Playoff, where Georgia beat Ohio State and TCU beat Michigan.
No. 5 Virginia is in the quarterfinals for the 15th time in the last 17 completed seasons. UVA will face No. 4 Kentucky in a rematch of last season’s NCAA title match, which UVA won 4-0. Kentucky got some revenge in February, beating the UVA 4-3 in Charlottesville. UVA enters the Elite Eight on a 19-match winning streak.
Kentucky secured its sixth trip to the quarterfinals with a 4-3 win over Stanford that was played in front of a program-record crowd of 903 fans at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington. That far surpassed the previous record of 686 set in 2011.
For the second straight season, no Pac-12 men’s teams advanced to the quarterfinals. The conference has won the NCAA men’s title in 53 of the 76 years a team champion has been crowned (54 total as UCLA and USC shared the title in 1976). But a Pac-12 program hasn’t won a title since 2014, when USC won its fifth in six years.
Women’s Elite Eight (Wednesday, all times ET)
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 8 Texas, 5 p.m.
No 4. Georgia vs. No. 5 Michigan, 5 p.m.
No. 3 NC State vs. No. 11 Iowa State, 7:30 p.m.
No. 2 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Stanford, 7:30 p.m.
Men’s Elite Eight (Thursday, all times ET)
No. 1 Texas vs. No. 9 South Carolina, 5 p.m.
No. 5 Virginia vs. No. 4 Kentucky, 5 p.m.
No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 6 Georgia, 7:30 p.m.
No. 2 TCU vs. No. 4 Michigan, 7:30 p.m.
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About Rhiannon Potkey
Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two
decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many
sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories.
Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national
events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches.
Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You
can reach Rhiannon by email at
[email protected].
