Reigning three-time NCAA champion Duke, along with North Carolina, N.C. State and East Carolina are headed to the NCAA Women’s Regionals, May 8-10.
 
Top-ranked Duke, making its 16th consecutive regional appearance, received the No. 1 see in the East Regional to be played at the University of Georgia Golf Club in Athens, Ga. East Carolina, in just its eighth year of existence, earned an at-large bid and is seeded 13th in the East Regional, as well.

N.C. State earned an at-large bid to the Central Regional at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin, Texas. The Wolfpack is seeded 13th and is making its seventh straight regional appearance since the program was reinstated in 2000. North Carolina will play in the West Regional at Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Sacramento, Calif.

The top eight teams and top two individuals (not on one of those eight teams) advance on to the NCAA Women’s Championships, May 20-23 at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, N.M.  

The Blue Devils are the three-time defending NCAA champions and have won a total of five NCAA titles, having also won in 1999 and 2002. Duke, which won its 13th consecutive ACC Championship title this season, has claimed seven East Region titles.

 “I am glad we are going back to the University of Georgia Golf Club,” said Duke coach Dan Brooks, whose Blue Devils tied for fifth at the Liz Murphy Collegiate Classic that was held at the University of Georgia Golf Club earlier this season. “You need to respect that course and we gained respect for it when we went down there earlier this season. The greens have been redone — you have to prepare yourself for it and take it very seriously. We will have a good practice round in preparation.”

East Carolina will be making its fourth regional appearance since 2003, when it finished a school-best 14th.

“This is a nice reward for the good year we had,” coach Kevin Williams said. “I am real excited about playing at the University of Georgia Golf Course where our game matches up well with the course. It is a very competitive regional and I think our girls are up for the challenge and are looking to move forward to the NCAA Championships.”

N.C. State has finished 14th on three occasions since first being selected for NCAA play back in 2002. Individually, Colby Cobb had the most success for the Wolfpack finishing tied for 13th in 2002. This is the Wolfpack’s first appearance in the Central Regional.

North Carolina is making its 15th appearance in the NCAA Regionals, and first in the West. Since the regional format was instituted in 1993, the Tar Heels have received a bid each year except in 2005.

“We are happy to be playing in the West Regional in Sacramento,” said coach Sally Austin, whose team had seven top-10 finishes this year, including fifth-place finishes at the ACC Championship and the SunTrust Lady Gator Invitational. “We are looking forward to the trip and the opportunity to play our way into the NCAA Championship.”

Three other ACC teams received regional bids —Wake Forest and Virginia to the East and Florida State in the Central. UNC Wilmington also received an East Regional bid.

NCAA Regional Selections
(Automatic qualifiers in parenthesis)

East: Teams — 1, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference); 2, Florida (Southeastern Conference); 3, Georgia; 4, Auburn; 5, Wake Forest; 6, Tennessee; 7, Virginia; 8, New Mexico (Mountain West Conference); 9, Vanderbilt; 10, Louisville; 11, South Carolina; 12, Furman (Southern Conference); 13, East Carolina; 14, Georgia State; 15, Central Florida; 16, Missouri; 17, Indiana; 18, North Carolina Wilmington (Colonial Athletic Association); 19, Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley Conference); 20, Charleston Southern (Big South Conference); 21, Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference). Individuals — 1, Dori Carter, Mississippi; 2, Emma Degroot, Chattanooga; 3, Paula Hurtado, Florida International.

Central: Teams — 1, UCLA; 2, Purdue (Big Ten Conference); 3, Alabama; 4, Denver (Sun Belt Conference); 5, Kent State (Mid-American Conference); 6, Pepperdine; 7, LSU; 8, Texas A&M; 9, Notre Dame (Big East Conference);
10, Texas; 11, TCU; 12, Florida State; 13, N.C. State; 14, East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun Conference); 15, Texas Tech; 16, Washington; 17, Nebraska; 18, Harvard (Ivy Group); 19, Texas State (Southland Conference); 20, Illinois State (Missouri Valley Conference); 21, Fairleigh Dickinson (Northeast Conference). Individuals — 1, Steffi Kirchmayr, College of Charleston; 2, Sara Wikstrom, Arkansas-Little Rock; 3, Araceli Felgueroso, Coastal Carolina.

West: Teams — 1, Southern California (Pacific-10 Conference); 2, Arizona State; 3, Arkansas; 4, Arizona; 5, Oklahoma State (Big 12 Conference); 6, California; 7, Michigan State; 8, Stanford; 9, BYU; 10, Tulsa (Conference USA); 11, North Carolina; 12, Ohio State; 13, San Jose State; 14, Oklahoma;
15, Oregon; 16, UNLV; 17, UC Davis; 18, UC Irvine (Big West Conference);
19, Fresno State (Western Athletic Conference); 20, Oral Roberts (The Summit League); 21. Portland State (Big Sky Conference). Individuals — 1, Mallory Blackwelder, Kentucky; 2, Danielle Cvitanov, San Francisco; 3, Emily Powers, Kansas.