The University of Denver men and women’s teams will compete in the 2008 Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships, the NCAA has announced.
The No. 28 DU women will make their second NCAA championship appearance after earning the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic berth, while the No. 44 DU men make their first NCAA appearance after earning an at-large berth.
The women (22–2) play No. 41 Long Beach State (19–6) in the first round of the UCLA Regional in Los Angeles on Friday, May 9. The winner will face either host No. 7 UCLA (18–5) or Buffalo (12–8) in the second round on Saturday, May 10. The winner of the second round match advances to the round of 16 held on May 15–20 in Tulsa, Okla.
The men (18–6) play No. 20 Oklahoma State (16–9) in the first round of the Tulsa Regional in Tulsa, Okla., on May 9. The winner will face either host No. 11 Tulsa (21–4) or Binghamton (13–10) in the second round on May 10. The winner of the second round match advances to the round of 16 held on May 16–20 in Tulsa.
The women’s team has posted a school-record 22 matches under the direction of SBC women’s coach of the year Amy Jensen. The Pioneers are led by All-SBC performers Mallory Voelker, Annette Aksdal and Julia Bauregger.
Voelker leads DU with a 22–1 mark at No. 1 singles, and is ranked No. 65 in singles and No. 46 in doubles with Bauregger. Aksdal has posted a 20–4 singles mark. Also competing for the Pioneers at the championships are Ute Schnoy, Kyla Iwinski and Bhavani Tirumurti. DU made its other NCAA championship appearance in 2004 when the Pioneers dropped a 4–1 decision to Michigan at the Stanford Regional.
Two-time SBC men’s coach of the year Danny Westerman has guided the Pioneers men to a school-record 18 wins. All-American Adam Holmstrom leads the way for DU with a No. 36 singles ranking and No. 12 doubles ranking with partner Niklas Persson. Holmstrom is 18–2 in singles and 15–0 in doubles with Persson. Also competing for the Pioneers at the championships are Kalle Rosen, Benny Althaus, David Simson and Andrew Landwerlen.