May 2, 2002

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - The Atlantic Coast Conference champion University of North Carolina men's tennis team has been assigned to a regional at the University of Tennessee in the 2002 NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament bracket announced Thursday.

The Tar Heels (19-5) will play a first-round tournament match on Saturday, May 11 against Virginia Tech (16-7) in Knoxville, Tenn. The other first-round match on May 11 will feature the regional host Tennessee (18-6), which is the 64-team tournament's #2 seed, against Wake Forest (17-5).

The Tar Heels received the automatic bid from the Atlantic Coast Conference to compete in the Tournament. UNC earned the bid by virtue of winning the ACC Championship over Georgia Tech 4-3 on April 21 in Raleigh, N.C. Tennessee received the automatic bid from the Southeastern Conference as the SEC champion while Wake Forest and Virginia Tech earned at-large bids to the championship.

Since the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships went to a team format in 1977, Carolina has received bids to the Tournament in 1977, 1978, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002. UNC has received a bid eight times in Coach Sam Paul's nine seasons as head coach.

The winners of the 16 NCAA regionals will advance to the national team tournament at Texas A&M University May 18-21.

UNC senior Marcio Petrone has also received a singles invitation to compete i the individual singles phase of the NCAA Tournament to be held in College Station, Texas at Texas A&M University May 22-27. Petrone earned a singles invitation from the Mideast Region. Petrone was the Most Valuable Player of the this year's ACC Tournament.