INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - No. 16 University of Redlands Women's Tennis has qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships as an At-Large Bid and will play in the Richardson, Texas West Regional this upcoming weekend, May 14-15 on the campus of the University of Texas-Dallas.
The Bulldogs (10-7) return to the National Championship stage for the first time since 2013 when they reached the second round, under former Head Coach Geoff Roche. This is the programs twelfth trip to the NCAA's and their eighth since 2004. This season they have found success under new Head Coach Pete Yellico and they have earned a spot in the championships due to upset wins over then No. 21 WashU (7-2), No. 32 Colby (8-1), No. 22 Caltech (5-4), and Brandeis (5-2).
All five teams present for the UT-Dallas portion of the bracket are ranked 34th or better by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's latest poll released on May 5. No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer leads the way amongst the five in the poll, followed by No. 14 Trinity University (TX), No. 16 University of Redlands, No. 29 UT Dallas (TX) and No. 34 Linfield University (OR).
Redlands, who is currently ranked No. 4 in the West Region fell in the semi-finals of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament to Claremont-M-S (5-0) and will lean heavily this weekend on their two all-conference performers Liv Rockwood (Park City, UT) (1st Team) and Kendall Bolock (Yucaipa, CA) (2nd Team).
The Maroon and Grey bring a pair of ranked regional singles players into the weekend, which includes No. 14 L. Rockwood and No. 21 Bolock. They also have two doubles teams ranked inside the top 15 including No. 11 Gabby Rockwood (Park City, UT)/Bolock and No. 15 L. Rockwood/Mia Fitzgerald (Kilauea, HI).
L. Rockwood plays No. 1 singles for the Bulldogs and comes in with an 8-8 record in singles and with Fitzgerald boasts a 12-4 record in doubles. Bolock leads the program in wins at a 12-4 mark, while also combining to go 9-7 in doubles with G. Rockwood. The other player to watch for is first year Kiana Brady (Hermosa Beach, CA) who comes in with an 11-5 singles record and has also teamed up with fellow first year Christine O'Brien (Leawood, KS) in doubles to post a 9-3 record at No. 3.
Redlands will open its NCAA Division III Regional action Saturday in the tournament's second round against the 14th-ranked Tigers of Trinity University at the UTD Tennis Complex.