SPOKANE, Wash. - It is déjà vu all over again for the Whitworth University women’s tennis team. The Pirates will take on the University of Texas at Tyler at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Division III women’s tournament at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in Claremont, California.

The first round match-up and host location are identical to last season. Whitworth hopes that the familiarity will benefit the team and hopes for a better result than last year when the Bucs wilted in a Southern California spring heat wave and fell 5-0 to the Patriots.

Whitworth fans can follow this weekend's results on assistant coach Colin Storm's Twitter Feed (click for link).

The Pirates earned their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III tournament by winning their second straight NWC tournament last month. Whitworth defeated Whitman 5-3 in the conference tournament final. The Bucs are 19-4 overall and finished the NWC regular season with a 15-1 mark. Whitworth is led by 2010 NWC Sportswoman of the Year Rachel Burns.

Texas-Tyler won the American Southwest Conference for the third consecutive season. The Patriots carry a 16-3 record into the tournament.

The winner of Thursday’s match will take on host (and national 7 seed) Pomona-Pitzer in the second round on Friday.More details, including match start time and possible live results, will be posted on the Whitworth website as that information becomes available.