CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - After nearly two weeks of blind preparation, Austin Peay State University women's tennis team will begin to ready itself for Georgia Tech, in first-round NCAA Tournament play, the NCAA announced Tuesday, on ESPNEWS.

The Lady Govs watched the selection show with a group of Austin Peay supporters, Tuesday, at the Blackhorse Pub and Brewery in historic Downtown Clarksville.

"It's always nice to see the great support of our tennis program," said head coach Malik Tabet, the Ohio Valley Conference co-Coach of the Year. "All our administration was here, as well as our tennis friends. Especially with the weather the way it is, with the flooding, it's nice to see that people made the effort to come and supports us."

First- and second-round play takes place May 14-15 at 16 different sites, with the Lady Govs playing in Atlanta. The finals site (16-team bracket) will take place at the University of Georgia, in Athens, Ga., to determine the national champion. Mississippi and UC-Irvine will be the other first-round match played at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.

Austin Peay (18-3) earned an automatic bid by defeating Eastern Kentucky, 4-2, to win the school's fourth OVC championship. While largely relying on sophomore OVC Player of the Year Vanja Tomic and OVC Freshman of the Year Carolin Weikard, the Lady Govs looked to All-OVC seniors Mariana Pagan and Michelle Liew for leadership.

Tomic and Pagan are formidable duo at No. 1 doubles with a 16-3 record, while Weikard teams with senior Yuki Nakamura at No. 2 doubles for a perfect 9-0 record.

The Yellow Jackets (18-9), meanwhile, boast the NCAA's top player in Irina Falconi - a 2009 All-American. Georgia Tech ran through three of the nation's top teams, including a 4-3 win against No. 1 North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship match.

For the Lady Govs, Tabet is ready to see where his team stands against nationally-ranked competition. His rebuilding of the Austin Peay tennis programs will see an honest test when the OVC Player of the Year (Tomic) faces the ACC Player of the Year (Falconi). But for the Lady Govs, it will be first-things-first.

"The next step is to make sure the kids take care of their finals," Tabet said. "We've got about a week and a half to finalize our strategies. I'm very familiar with Georgia Tech and I know (head coach Bryan Shelton). This is exciting for our program because our kids will get a chance to play some of the country's top players.

"We're going to start practice, Thursday. On Sunday, we'll start full on until we leave - mainly with doubles - putting the game back in place the way we had it at the conference tournament."

-AP-