FULL REGIONAL SITE

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Otterbein women's tennis team will officially launch the NCAA Championships Friday afternoon against Webster, taking on the Gorlocks as part of a six-team regional pod at 2 p.m.

Emory, serving as the host, and Sewanee received byes to start the bracket… which also welcomes Transylvania (15-4) and Piedmont (24-4) to the showdown.

Otterbein (18-4) earned an automatic bid to the national tournament after sweeping through the Ohio Athletic Conference, going 7-0 in the regular season and then blitzing Baldwin Wallace and Ohio Northern again in the postseason.

The Cardinals, led by head coach Tyler Stephen, are back in the "Big Dance" for the first time since 2014. The Otterbein/Webster winner advances to take on Sewanee come Saturday afternoon, as all 49 teams are playing a single-elimination tournament with first, second- and third-rounds at regional sites.

Webster (14-11) is led by head coach John Black and plays out of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Sophomore Erin Storrer (21-6) has also made a piece of program history, becoming the first player ever selected to compete as an individual at NCAA's. After the team competition, she will head to Orlando as one of 32 standouts playing for the national crown at the USTA National Campus.

For the individual championships, the national committee selected a percentage of singles players and doubles teams from each of the eight regions. The selections are based on win-loss record, strength of schedule, eligibility and availability of student-athletes.