MOBILE, Ala. – The William Woods University women's tennis team makes its second straight trip to the NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship. The Owls will open play on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. CT against Georgetown (Ky.) College.
 
The field consists of 14 automatic berths, including one host berth, and nine at-large selections. Automatic qualification is given to conference and unaffiliated grouping tournament champions and runners-up, depending on the conference. For the first year, at-large teams were determined by the NAIA Tennis National Selection Committee (NSC). The NSC consists of one representative from each geographic area, a representative from the National Administrative Council (NAC) Rules and Ratings Committee, the president of the Tennis Coaches Association and two at-large members. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria. Mobile (Ala.) received the host berth.

The single elimination, tournament commences with eight first-round matchups on May 16 starting at 1:30 p.m. CDT. The top-eight seeds receive a first-round bye and begin action on May 17 at 9 a.m. The event concludes on May 20 with the championship match at 1 p.m.
 
For more information on the NAIA National Championship, click here. To see the complete NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship Bracket, click here.
 
Georgetown College Tigers enter the national championship with a 16-7 overall record. The Tigers its first appearance at the Women's Tennis National Championship since 2008 and this is their fourth appearance overall. Georgetown is 0-3 in its previous trips to Nationals.
 
Georgetown qualified for the national championship as an at-large selecting. Lindsey Wilson eliminated the Tigers from the Mid-South Conference Tournament, 5-0, which was the last match for Georgetown.
 
The Tigers are led by Shae Henry, a junior from Lexington, Ky. She was a first Team All Mid-South Conference selection. Henry was not the only Georgetown player to earn Mid-South Awards. Luaren Fazenbaker and Madelyn Kauffman earned Second Team All Mid-South Conference honors.
 
William Woods enters the national championship as the No. 12 team in the latest NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll. The Owls are 11-9 on the season and currently have won five straight matches, which dates back to April 15th.
 
Leading the Owls was Karyna Sagalai and Zlata Shuraeva, who both earned First Team Singles All-Conference honors. The Krivoy Rog, Ukraine native, finished the season 4-12 in singles action. Sagalai finished the season, 3-10 playing No. 1 singles and 1-0 playing No. 3 singles.
 
Shuraeva, a native of Moscow, Russia, finished the season with an 6-7 overall record. She was 1-1 playing No. 1 singles, 3-4 playing No.2 singles and 2-1 in No. 4 singles.
 
Felicia Cesar, Alba Salinas, Chelsea Steward and Julia Mulder all earned Second Team Singles All-Conference honors. Cesar, a Genk, Belgium native, was 13-1 in singles action this year. Cesar was 7-7 on the season playing No. 2 singles, 2-0, No. 3 singles, 1-2, No. 4 singles 1-3 playing No. 5 singles 3-2.
 
Following Cesar was Salinas a native of Terrana, who finished the season 9-6 on the season. Salinas was 6-2 playing No. 3 singles this season, and she picked up her other three wins playing No. 2 singles. Steward a Cape Town, South Africa native, finished the season 8-2 in singles action. She was 5-1 in No. 4 singles and 1-0 in No.1 singles and No. 6 singles.   
 
Mulder a Nistelrode, Netherlands native, finished the season 2-2 in singles action. Mulder was 2-1 in No. 5 singles and 0-1 in No. 6 singles this season.
 
The Owls were not done with the awards as Zlata Shuraeva and Chelsea Steward and the team of Felicia Cesar and Julia Mulder were named First Team Doubles All-Conference and Karyna Sagalai and Alba Salinas were named Second Team Doubles All-Conference.
 
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com for information on the upcoming NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship.