WOMEN'S TENNIS TO HOST NCAA REGIONAL MAY 5-6

SMITHFIELD, RI -  The Bryant University women's tennis team will be making its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II Championships, only this year the Bulldogs will serve as the host of the first round as announced by the NCAA.  Bryant (16-3) will host Philadelphia University (15-5) in a first round matchup on Friday, May 5 with Kutztown (10-3) and California, Pa. (17-8) to square off in the other matchup. 

2006 NCAA Regional @ Smithfield, RI

May 5 - Kutztown 5, California 4

May 5 - Bryant 5, Philadelphia 1

May 6 - Bryant vs. Kutztown 12 pm

Bryant University

Philadelphia University

Kutztown

California (Pa.)

The winners will play Saturday, May 6 for the right to advance to the round of 16 in Kansas City.  Bryant earned an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament after winning the Northeast-10 Championship last Sunday.

Bryant earned its first invitation to the NCAA Regionals in 2004 only to fall in the first round to Indiana (Pa.) 5-2 in a match played at Bloomsburg, Pa. 

In 2005, Bryant took another step forward, advancing to the regional final with a 5-2 first round win over Queens (NY) before falling to Kutztown 5-1 in the regional final played at Kutztown, Pa. 

Bryant is led by junior standout Sacha Solomon (Bourne, Mass.) who was recently named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year for the third year in-a-row.  In all, Bryant placed six players on the 2006 all-conference team with senior Alex Spence (Lynnfield, Mass.) and junior Annette Jervasi (Colchester, Conn.) joining Solomon on the first team. 

Senior Alanna Santanello (North Providence, RI) and sophomore Michelle Burke (Barrington, RI) were both named second team all-conference while sophomore Lauren Mullen (Braintree, Mass.) was named to the NE-10 third team.