Union University to host NCAA basketball tournament
JACKSON, Tenn. — In Union University’s first year as a Division II school in the NCAA, the women’s basketball team is the No. 1 seed in their division. This weekend the school will host seven of the 64 teams left for the South Regional Tournament. Union University students are getting excited for their campus to be the hub of the NCAA’s Women’s South Region National Basketball Tournament. “I’m very excited,” sophomore Caleb Dahl said. “Yeah, I’m super excited about it,” sophomore Eugenia Nestico said. The university’s director of athletics, Tommy Sadler, said the school was selected through a bid to host the tournament. “And I think the fact that we were the No. 1 seed in the South Regional helped us secure that bid,” Sadler said. Sadler said in the school’s first year as an NCAA Division II team attendance has been up. “We have a great fan base to begin with, and those people are pretty loyal to us year in and year out.” Sadler said the gym holds 2,200 people. The last time it was filled was four years ago, but they are hoping to change that this weekend. “It’s going to be a big showing for the students I think,” Dahl said. “It makes me really proud of Union that they have come this far,” Nestico said. “I’m excited because it’s something that Union hasn’t been able to do, so to be able to be a freshman and have Union do something like this for the first time is really cool,” Dalton Lavelle said. Sadler said it is a great honor for the university to be able to host this tournament. “We’re very excited about this,” he said. “We hope we do it all right because we’ve never done this, but we’re very excited about it.” The first game of the weekend-long tournament kicks off at noon Friday. Tickets will be available at the Fred Delay Gymnasium ticket office.
