The University of Tennessee women’s tennis team was selected on Apr. 27 to compete in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship and will face Old Dominion University in the first round.
This selection marks the team’s 33rd appearance in the national tournament, highlighting its consistent performance at a high level. The Lady Volunteers will travel to Durham, North Carolina for the regional rounds, where they are joined by Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and host team Duke. The opening matches of this single-elimination event are scheduled for May 1, with regional finals set for May 3.
Head coach Alison Ojeda said about the draw: “I’m thrilled. Old Dominion is a very talented team, it will be great to go up against them and work to win that match. Then to go up against Duke, another very talented team, I love it.”
The winner from the Durham regional will advance to play against the winner from Auburn’s regional on May 8 or May 9 in the super regional round. The final stages of quarterfinals through championship matches are planned for Athens, Georgia between May 14 and May 17.
Tennessee has reached at least the round of sixteen fourteen times since its first selection in 1989 and has advanced as far as the semifinals twice—in both 2002 and most recently in 2024. Under Ojeda’s leadership since her tenure began in 2017, Tennessee has qualified every season there was a tournament held.
Ojeda commented on her team’s outlook: “This team, at every single spot, just needs to show up and be as good as they can be,” she said. “We need to go out there and compete at every single spot, and if we can do that, then we can make a good run.”
