William & Mary women's tennis senior Mila Saric was one of 64 players nationally selected to the NCAA Singles Championship, the Division I Women's Tennis Subcommittee announced on Tuesday. Saric is the first Tribe selection since 2016. The University of Illinois will host the 2022 NCAA Championships at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill., May 23-28.
Saric's selection to the NCAA Individual Championships is the 35th time a Tribe player earned a spot in the singles championship. As the top-ranked player in the Colonial Athletic Association, she garnered one of 15 automatic bids to the event.
The 2021 CAA Player of the Year, Saric is 25-5 on the year and owns 69 wins over her W&M career. She is 15-3 (.833) at the top singles position and is 28-8 (.778) over her Tribe career at the top post. Saric's 83.3 winning % this season ranks sixth in W&M history. Her career singles winning % of 72.6 is also third in program history.
Saric owns a trio of wins over current nationally-ranked foes No. 59 Thasaporn Naklo of Iowa State, No. 61 Ariana Arseneault of Auburn and No. 101 Paola Exposito Diaz-Delgado of VCU. Both Naklo and Diaz-Delgado both qualified for the singles championship as well. Saric has spent the last two months among the ITA National Rankings and is ranked No. 121 nationally .
Automatic qualification into the Division I singles championship is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible singles players ranked in the ITA Top 125 for eligible/entered singles players. All singles players must have a minimum of 13 completed singles matches, with six matches in the spring, in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.
The draw for the NCAA Individual Championship will be released prior to the start of the event. The opening round of the singles bracket will start on Wednesday, May 23, at 11 a.m. ET, with one round following each day until the championship on Saturday, May 28.
Saric and W&M open the team portion of the NCAA Tournament, taking part in the Raleigh Regional, 7-8. The CAA Champion Tribe faces No. 6 NC State at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, while VCU and Tennessee meet in the other first-round match at 11 a.m. The regional final is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 8.
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