Maize and Blue Treks to Stanford for NCAA Tournament

» No. 17 Michigan is making its 17th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, heading to Stanford to take on Hawaii in the first round. St. John's completes the four-team regional in Palo Alto, California.
» U-M has won 13 of its last 14 matches, including winning its second Big Ten Tournament title in program history with a 4-3 win over Northwestern (April 29).
» The Maize and Blue is heading to Stanford for the first time since the 2011 NCAA Tournament, the last time the Cardinal hosted the team finals.

THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat, May 11-12 -- at NCAA Tournament First and Second Rounds (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Friday, May 11 -- vs. Hawaii - NCAA Tournament First Round, 11 a.m. PDT
Live video/scoring
Saturday, May 12 -- NCAA Second Round, 4 p.m. PDT
Live video/scoring

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The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team (17-9) will be making its 17th straight NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend, traveling to Palo Alto, California. U-M will face Hawaii (13-6) in the first round on Friday (May 11) at 11 a.m. PDT. Joining U-M and Hawaii at the four-team regional are host Stanford (18-3) and St. John's (17-5).

WOLVERINE BITES

• Michigan stayed in the top 25 for the fourth consecutive week, vaulting up to No. 17 after winning the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan shot up six spots from last week's ranking of No. 23. Of the teams in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, Michigan has faced No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Duke, No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 5 Texas, No. 13 Northwestern, No. 18 Kansas, No. 19 Illinois, No. 20 Auburn, No. 22 UCF, No. 23 Virginia, No. 24 Tulsa and No. 25 Baylor this season.

• The Maize and Blue is making its 17th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, heading to Palo Alto, California, to face Hawaii (13-6) in the first round. U-M is 4-0 all-time against Hawaii, last taking a 6-1 decision on March 6, 2015. The two teams have never met in the NCAA Tournament.

• U-M is 26-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has advanced to the Round of 16 eight times. The Maize and Blue made its deepest run in school history during the 2015-16 season, advancing to the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Stanford.

• Joining Michigan and Hawaii at the NCAA Regional are host Stanford (18-3) and St. John's (17-5). U-M and St. John's have never met, while Michigan and Stanford have faced each other in the last two NCAA Tournaments -- the 2016 quarterfinals and the round of 16 last season.

• The Wolverines are heading to Stanford for the first time since the 2011 NCAA Tournament, the last time the Cardinal hosted the team final. Associate head coach Teryn Ashley-Fitch was a four-year varsity letterwinner (1996-2000) at Stanford. Ashley-Fitch was a five-time All-American and won a pair of team national championships.

• Michigan won its second Big Ten Tournament title since the event formally began in 1999, earning the Big Ten's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. U-M rallied for a 4-3 win over Northwestern in the championship match, with junior Kate Fahey and sophomore Chiara Lommer each winning in three sets as the final two matches off court. It marked the second time in as many days that U-M had to win the final two matches off court, as junior Brienne Minor and Lommer did the same in Michigan's 4-3 win over Illinois in the semifinals.

• The Wolverine trio of Kate Fahey, Brienne Minor and Chiara Lommer garnered All-Big Ten honors, with Fahey becoming the fifth Wolverine in school history to be named Athlete of the Year. » Release

• Junior Kate Fahey is 27-8 on the season, moving her career record to 94-23 (.803). She is the 11th Wolverine in school history to reach 90 career wins, tied for ninth all-time in singles wins. Fahey is the only player in program history to feature a winning percentage of at least .800.

• Sophomore Chiara Lommer is the owner of Michigan's longest singles win streak, earning victories in her last 12 singles matches. Junior Brienne Minor is right behind her, winning her last seven matches. Lommer is the first Wolverine this season to make it to 30 wins, carrying a 31-9 overall record. It is the 22nd 30-win season for a Wolverine in program history. Minor and Kate Fahey each have a pair of 30-win seasons in their careers as well.

• As part of Black History Month, junior Brienne Minor was profiled by The Tennis Channel in February after winning last year's singles NCAA title. Watch the video here.

• Michigan has seven players with at least 10 singles wins on the season. Chiara Lommer (31), Kate Fahey (27), Mira Ruder-Hook (16), Bella Lorenzini (14), Lera Patiuk (14), Alyvia Jones (12) and Brienne Minor (11) are each in the double-figure club.

• In the latest (May 3) singles rankings, Kate Fahey comes in at No. 29 and Chiara Lommer is at No. 97. Fahey is the highest ranked player in the Big Ten, earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Singles Championship (May 23-28).

NCAA RULES
Each team match will be a contest for the best of seven team points. Doubles action will begin immediately with no warmup, so fans are encouraged to arrive on time for matches. In addition, each doubles match will be one set to six, with a tiebreaker occurring at 6-all. The team that wins two-of-three matches will secure the doubles point. Following a five-minute intermission, singles action will begin with each match worth one point towards the team score. There will be no-ad scoring in both singles and doubles action. In addition, there is to be no noise made between first and second serves this season as part of new ITA sportsmanship guidelines. Matches in completion when the doubles point and overall match are clinched will be abandoned in postseason play.