Sit on a sofa and wait for the future to unfold on the television screen. That was enough to make Kerri Gardin sweat.

"I've never been that nervous before," Gardin said.

Gardin and the rest of the Virginia Tech women's basketball team camped out in coach Beth Dunkenberger's living room Sunday to learn whether the Hokies' strength of schedule would outweigh some disappointing losses in the minds of the NCAA tournament selection committee. They didn't have to wait long. Just minutes into the selection show, they heard their name called.

"This is the exciting part," Dunkenberger said. "This is what you work for all year."

The Hokies (17-11) are seeded 12th in the Chattanooga, Tenn., region and will play No.16 DePaul, the fifth seed, in the opening round on Sunday in College Park, Md.

Tech's RPI is 29th in the country according to the WBCA, and its schedule was rated the sixth toughest in the nation. Nine of Tech's 11 losses, and five of its wins, came against teams in the 64-team NCAA field.

The Hokies went 6-8 in the ACC to finish seventh in the regular season. Then, they lost to Wake Forest 61-56 in the opening round of the tournament.

"We could use that as motivation," said Tech senior Erin Gibson. "We have something to prove."

If it should beat DePaul, Tech would play the winner of the first-round matchup between fourth-seeded Penn State (19-10) and 13th-seed Liberty (24-6) in College Park on Tuesday. The winner of Tuesday's game will travel to Chattanooga for the regional semifinals.

Tech was the seventh ACC team to make the 64-team NCAA field and was awarded the tournament's final at-large bid. The three other No.12 seeds earned automatic bids by winning conference tournaments.

Virginia, which missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 seasons last year, is the sixth seed in the Tempe, Ariz., region this year and will play 11th-seeded Old Dominion in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Conference champion North Carolina grabbed the top seed in the Tempe region and Duke got the second seed in the Chattanooga region.

N.C. State is the fifth seed and Maryland, the seventh in the Philadelphia region. Florida State is the sixth seed in the Kansas City region.

DePaul (25-4) finished first in the Conference USA in the regular season, but lost 87-77 to Texas Christian in the tournament semifinals.

The Blue Demons have five players averaging double-figures scoring and a team average of 82.9 points a game.

Six-foot-2 junior forward Khara Smith leads DePaul with 18.4 points and 11.8 rebounds a game. Senior guard Jenni Dant averages 14.1 points and 4.1 assists a game. Freshman guard Allie Quigley is the Demons' second-leading scorer with 14.4 points per game. Sophomore guard Jenna Rubino averages 11.9 points and 5.4 rebounds a game and senior Charlene Smith chips in 11 points a game.

The Hokies went 3-4 against Top-25 teams, including an 87-79 win over No.22 Maryland at College Park in the last week of the regular season.

The Hokies have taken a week off, and now hope to regain their late regular-season form - not their ACC Tournament form - by Sunday.

"I thought we were nervous against Wake," Dunkenberger said. "I think they were all mad after the game. I think I'll take mad rather than nervous."NCAA TOURNEY

Virginia Tech vs. DePaul

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Sunday

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