DAHLONEGA -- The No. 4 University of North Georgia (UNG) women's tennis team earned the top seed in the 2025 Peach Belt Conference Women's Tournament the league office announced Monday. 

For the second year in a row, the Nighthawks are the top seed in the conference tournament bracket. They claimed a share of the 2025 PBC Regular-season title after posting a 5-1 conference record this season to tie No. 5 Flagler and No. 10 Columbus State (CSU).

For tournament seeding, the PBC looks at head-to-head conference match results to decide tiebreakers. Flagler defeated UNG but lost to CSU; CSU defeated Flagler but lost to UNG and UNG beat CSU but lost to Flagler. All three teams were 1-1 against each other and each school won every other conference match it played.

The PBC tiebreaker's third step relies on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) national rankings to seed the tied teams. In the rankings released April 16, UNG held the top spot at No. 4, Flagler was just behind at No. 5 and Columbus State came in at No. 10. Therefore, UNG earns the top seed in the tournament for the second straight year. Flagler earned the two seed while CSU was given the three seed. 

This is the second straight season the PBC has had to use ITA rankings to break a three-way tie between CSU, Flagler and UNG.

With the top seed, the Nighthawks earn a bye into the semifinals of the tournament. The quarterfinals begin in Columbus, Ga. at the John C. Walden Tennis Center on April 25 as Columbus State plays host of the event. UNG will face the winner of fourth-seeded Georgia College (GCSU) and fifth-seeded Augusta on Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m. The Nighthawks went undefeated against both the Jaguars and Bobcats in the regular season with a 5-2 victory over Augusta on March 2 followed by a 6-1 triumph against GCSU on April 12. 

UNG is looking to defend its tournament title from last season, having won the first title in program history in 2024. With a victory in this year's tournament, the Nighthawks could become the first program to win back-to-back tournament championships since 2019.