Men's Tennis to Face Drake in NCAA First Round
April 28, 2015 | Men's Tennis
Rex Ecarma on the NCAA first round matchup with Drake
The No. 32 ranked University of Louisville men's tennis team will travel to Champaign, Ill., to face No. 31 Drake in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Championship on Friday, May 8 at 2 p.m. (ET) at Kahn Outdoor Tennis Complex.
The winner between Louisville (23-8) and Drake (24-6) will face the winner of the other first-round match between Green Bay (18-7) and the overall fourth seed and fourth-ranked host University of Illinois (25-4). The regional final will take place on May 9 at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to the NCAA Championship Round of 16 in Waco, Texas on May 14.
Louisville's first-round match will feature a rematch of the Cards' 2015 season-opener which resulted in a 5-2 win for the Bulldogs at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center on Jan. 18.
"I respect Drake a lot," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "It's an evenly-matched situation. We know them, they know us, I think it's going to be a fun match for the guys and they look forward to it. It's always good to get a rematch of a team that you lost a close match to and that's what these guys get."
With the at-large bid, Louisville is making its 11th overall NCAA tournament appearance and sixth in the last seven years. This also marks the fourth time the Cardinals have traveled to Champaign, Ill., for the NCAA postseason. Louisville's best finish in the NCAA tournament came in 2010 when the Cardinals reached the round of 16.
