Tennessee was selected Monday as the second seed in the NCAA tournament’s Clemson Regional, which also contains third-seeded Charlotte and fourth-seeded Lipscomb.
Tony Vitello’s Volunteers (38-19) open Friday evening at 6 on ESPNU against the 49ers (34-26).
It is a very different landscape for the Vols, who were the top overall seed in last year’s NCAA tournament but must advance past the No. 4 Tigers this time around to reach a super regional. Clemson is 43-17 overall and has won 16 consecutive contests, rolling through the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament this past weekend by the combined count of 39-15.
Charlotte reached the Clemson Regional in a far more dramatic manner, losing last Wednesday’s Conference USA tournament opener to Louisiana Tech to fall to 29-26 before reeling off five victories in four days to claim the league tourney crown. The 49ers swept Middle Tennessee 12-9 and 9-8 Saturday before stunning top-seeded Dallas Baptist 5-2 Sunday.
Lipscomb (36-24) also punched its NCAA ticket Sunday with a 12-6 downing of Florida Gulf Coast in the Atlantic Sun tourney final.
The entire 64-team field was revealed Monday, with Wake Forest (47-10) earning the top overall seed and with Florida (44-14), Arkansas (41-16), Clemson, LSU (43-15), Vanderbilt (41-18), Virginia (45-12) and Stanford (38-16) rounding out the top eight. Miami (40-19) was the No. 9 seed, followed by Coastal Carolina (39-19), Oklahoma State (41-18), Kentucky (36-18), Auburn (34-21-1), Indiana State (42-15), South Carolina (39-19) and Alabama (40-19).
Ten Southeastern Conference teams earned invitations — Texas A&M (36-25) is the second seed in the Stanford Regional — to tie the all-time record for a league, and eight SEC teams receiving top-16 seeds set a new standard.
The winner of the Clemson Regional will advance to a super regional to face the winner of the Auburn Regional, which also includes Southern Miss (41-17), Samford (36-23) and Penn (32-14).
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.