Seeking to advance past the second round for the first time since 1998, No. 19 ranked Pepperdine opens NCAA Championships play next weekend in Terre Haute, Indiana. Head coach Peter Smith's team, 17-7 in dual match action, was ranked No. 19 nationally in this week's Wingspanbank.com poll. The Waves earned the No. 16 seed in the 64-team NCAA Championships field that was announced earlier today.

First and second round matches for men and women will be played next weekend at 16 campus sites. The final four rounds will be played a week later in Georgia, with the men convening at Henry Feild Stadium in Athens on May 19-22.

Pepperdine, the WCC champion, faces Western Michigan, the Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion, in a first round match next Friday (May 11) at the Indiana State Tennis Complex beginning at 9 a.m. (PST). Western Michigan, 14-10, has won 12 of its last 15 matches, including a 4-3 decision over Ball State last Saturday in the title match of the MAC Tournament.

Host Indiana State, ranked No. 28 nationally, clashes with intrastate rival and No. 44 ranked Indiana in the other first round match beginning at 1 p.m. (PST).

Indiana State, 25-4, is hosting first and second round NCAA Championships for the third straight year. The Sycamores won a third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference title last week win a 4-1 win over Drake in the championship match.

Indiana advances with a dual match record of 14-8 and earned an at-large berth into the 64-team field.

The second round match is scheduled for next Saturday (May 12) morning at 9 a.m., with the winner advancing to the third round in Athens, most likely to face top-ranked Stanford.

Pepperdine has been eliminated in the second round each of the last two seasons. The Waves dropped a 4-0 decision at Arizona State in 1999 and was upset by San Diego State last year at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center by a final score of 4-2.

The Waves last advanced to Athens back in 1998, defeating USC in the third round before losing to host Georgia in the quarterfinals. Stanford has won five of the last six NCAA team titles, including a win over Virginia Commonwealth in last year's championship match. The Cardinal have claimed 17 team titles since the dual match format was instituted in the late 1970's.

UCLA is the No. 2 seed, followed in order by Georgia, Texas A&M and Texas Christian.

Juniors Al Garland and Stefan Suter both earned spots in the 64-player NCAA singles draw which will be contested May 23-28 in Athens. Junior Sebastien Graeff and Suter will compete together in the 32-team doubles draw.