Patriot Women take on Seasiders at NCAA Sweet Sixteen

FLORENCE, SC – Seventh-ranked Francis Marion University will face top-ranked and unbeaten BYU-Hawaii in the round of Sweet Sixteen at the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis National Championships, Wednesday afternoon (May 13) in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
The match will begin at 1:30 p.m. Live stats will be available through https://admin.xosn.com/fls/19500/2009NCAATennis/Wlive02.htm
The tournament is being hosted by Rollins College and the Central Florida Sports Commission.
Francis Marion is 20-4 after winning the Southeast Regional last weekend. FMU is making its second straight trip to the national finals. Last year in Houston, the Patriots defeated Abilene Christian University 5-4 in the Sweet Sixteen round before falling to Lynn University (the eventual national runner-up) in the quarterfinal round.
BYU-Hawaii, winner of the West Regional, is 26-0. The Seasiders have won seven of the past 10 Division II national titles. Their line-up includes the third (Elwen Li) and fourth (Yuan Jia) ranked singles players in Division II, and the top-ranked doubles team (Li and Jia).
Junior Tereza Sykorova plays the number one singles spot for Francis Marion. She is ranked 18th nationally with a 17-6 season record. Sophomore Jitka Gavdunova is 21-1, has won nine straight decisions, and is ranked 29th nationally.
Over the past two seasons, Francis Marion is a combined 43-7, with six losses to opponents ranked in the Top 5 and the other loss was to an NCAA Division I opponent.

2009 NCAA DIVISION II Women’s Tennis Championships
Altamonte Springs, Fla.
Round of 16 – Wednesday, May 13
Match 1 - Lynn vs. Bloomsburg 1:30 p.m.
Match 2 - BYU-Hawaii vs. Francis Marion 1:30 p.m.
Match 3 - Concordia (NY) vs. Nebraska-Kearney 1:30 p.m.
Match 4 - Abilene Christian vs. Drury 1:30 p.m.
Match 5 - Montana St.-Billings vs. Hawaii Pacific 4:00 p.m.
Match 6 - Northwood (Mich.) vs. Valdosta St. 4:00 p.m.
Match 7 - California (Pa.) vs. Stonehill 4:00 p.m.
Match 8 - Armstrong Atlantic vs. St. Edward's 4:00 p.m.
Quarter Finals – Thursday, May 14
Match 9 - winner Match 1 vs. winner Match 2 1:00 p.m.
Match 10 - winner Match 3 vs. winner Match 4 1:00 p.m.
Match 11 - winner Match 5 vs. winner Match 6 1:00 p.m.
Match 12 - winner Match 7 vs. winner Match 8 1:00 p.m.
Semifinals – Friday, May 15
Match 13 - winner Match 9 vs. winner Match 10 1:00 p.m.
Match 14 - winner Match 11 vs. winner Match 13 1:00 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH – Saturday, May 16
Match 15 - semifinal winners 1:00 p.m.