For the third time in four years, the Virginia Tech softball team is headed to Knoxville, Tenn., for the NCAA tournament.

Tech was hoping to host a regional for the first time in its history, but the NCAA didn't deem the Hokies' resume worthy of that advantage. The pairings for the 64-team field were announced Sunday night.

The Hokies (44-15) are the No. 2 seed in the four-team, three-day regional. They will face third-seeded Louisville (30-21) at 2:30 p.m. Friday at the University of Tennessee. Louisville is coming off a loss in the Big East semifinals.

The host Lady Vols are the No. 1 seed in the regional and will face Big South champ Winthrop (36-17) in Friday's second game. Winthrop's ace is Liberty High graduate Cari Wooldridge.

Tennessee (47-14), which lost in the SEC semifinals, was named the No. 13 overall seed out of the 16 national seeds.

The Lady Vols have reached the Women's College World Series the past three years. But Monica Abbott, the star pitcher on those teams, has graduated.

Virginia Tech, in the NCAAs for the fourth straight year, has never advanced to the final of a regional.

Tech was the No. 1 seed in its regional last year, but that regional was played at No. 2-seed Ohio State because the Hokies' park wasn't big enough to host. Tech expanded its seating capacity so it would be eligible to host this year.

Tech knew its chances of being one of the 16 host schools this year were iffy. Tech was No. 22 in the RPI last week.

Radford did not get an NCAA bid.