KU women’s tennis — fresh off Big 12 title — will host NCAA Tournament opening rounds

The Kansas women’s tennis team won a Big 12 championship at home, and now it’ll get a chance to advance in the NCAA Tournament in the same place.

The Jayhawks learned Monday that they will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, earning the No. 14 overall national seed. KU (19-4) will face Denver at 1 p.m. on Friday at Jayhawk Tennis Center, with the winner advancing to take on either Florida or Boston College at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“I think it’s just a reward,” sixth-year KU coach Todd Chapman said of his team hosting. “It’s been a long time coming. We’ve worked for this.”

Denver is a familiar opponent. The Jayhawks defeated the Pioneers, 4-3, in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament in Malibu, California, before falling to Pepperdine.

“We know it’s going to be a tough match,” Chapman said. “The exciting thing for me is it won’t be one of those where I have to get our team’s attention. As soon as ‘Denver’ popped up, that had our team’s attention. We’ll be ready to go.”

If KU were two win its first two matches, it potentially could face national No. 3 seed Stanford in the Sweet 16.

The Jayhawks earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Texas, 4-2, in the Big 12 championship final last week.