Carolina Hosting NCAA Regional

CHAPEL HILL - Ranked No. 1 nationally and seeded No. 2 overall in the NCAA Team Championship, the North Carolina women's tennis team will host an NCAA regional at its home site of Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on Friday and Saturday.

Carolina plays host to Mississippi State, Morgan State and William & Mary in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heel men's tennis team is also hosting a regional this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

Mississippi State and William & Mary get the women's portion of the weekend rolling on Friday at 10 a.m., followed by UNC and Morgan State at 1 p.m.

Tickets for the event are $5 per day. Children 6 & under are free.

The winner of each match on Friday will compete Saturday at 3 p.m., for the right to advance to the NCAA championship site in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, hosted by Wake Forest University.

North Carolina (26-3) is making its 20th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Team Championship and 15th straight season under the guidance of head coach Brian Kalbas.

The 2018 ACC champions own a 42-19 all-time mark in NCAA competition, and have advanced beyond the regional round every season since 2010 and 13 occasions overall.

Morgan State (12-12) won its second MEAC title in program history and first since 1994. The Lady Bears are led by senior Danielle Thompson, who was named MEAC Player of the Year and would also earn the tournament's Outstanding Performer award

No. 31 Mississippi State (15-10) is making its school-record fourth straight appearance (eighth overall) in the NCAA Championship. The Bulldogs, who earned an at-large bid to the 64-team field, defeated No. 1 seed and SEC Champion Vanderbilt on March 15 for the highest ranked win in MSU program history.

State's six SEC wins this year is one shy of tying the program high set in each of the last two seasons of 2016 and 2017.

No. 46 William & Mary (17-9) makes its third trip in the last four years to Chapel Hill for NCAA play after winning the Colonial Athletic Association Championship to gain an automatic bid for the fourth-straight year. The Tribe garnered its 23rd NCAA appearance (2nd most outside the Power 5 Conferences) thanks to the program's 26th league crown.

The Tribe is led by CAA Most Outstanding Performer Rosie Cheng, who was also named the CAA Player of the Year.

Before Kalbas joined the Tar Heels in 2003, he spent 11 successful years at William & Mary (1993-03) where he was named the 1998 ITA National Coach of the Year, was named CAA Coach of the Year on four occasions, won nine conference titles and made two appearances in the NCAA quarterfinals.

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