NCAA Championship Bracket (pdf)
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May 2, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - After failing to qualify for last year's NCAA Championships -- a shocking development, given they had been in the previous five -- the 2002 Northwestern men's tennis team is back in The Dance.
The 64-team NCAA Championship field was announced Thursday evening, and the 45th-ranked Wildcats were among the teams named. They will travel to Illinois next weekend, meeting No. 38 Indiana State (22-9) on Saturday, May 11, at 2 p.m. in first-round action. That match will follow the other first-round match in the regional, between the third-seeded Fighting Illini (23-4) and Butler (13-9), which takes place at 10 a.m.
The Wildcats' first-round opponent will be a relatively familiar one -- NU and Indiana State met in February at the Great Northwest Shootout in Seattle, Wash., with the Sycamores pulling out a 4-3 decision.
The winners of Saturday's matches will meet in the regional championship match on Sunday, May 12, at noon. The winner of the regional will move on to the NCAA Championships, which are being hosted by Texas A&M and will take place from May 18-21 in College Station, Texas.
Northwestern -- which is making its seventh NCAA appearance overall, with all of them coming since 1990 -- enters the four-team Illinois regional with an overall record of 13-9. The Wildcats are led by 2002 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Tommy Hanus.
NCAA MEN'S TENNIS -- ILLINOIS REGIONAL
Saturday, May 11
Illinois (3) vs. Butler, 10 a.m. CT
Northwestern vs. Indiana State, 2 p.m. CT
Sunday, May 12,
Regional Final, noon CT