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OAK RIDGE - The nail-biting should be rampant in the University of Tennessee women's rowing camp Tuesday.

That's when the Lady Vols learn whether they are included in the 12-team field for the NCAA Championships, which begin May 30 on Lake Natoma near Sacramento, Calif.

The Lady Vols didn't exactly help themselves with their showing in the Aramark Sprints/South and Central Region meet Sunday on the Melton Hill Lake rowing course.

The Lady Vols finished third in the 10-team South Regional with 293 points and eighth overall in the field of 22.

Last year, UT was second in the South Regional and third overall.

"I've got a fair degree of concern about it (being selected)," said coach Lisa Glenn, whose Lady Vols were ninth at last year's NCAA Championships.

Powerhouse Virginia once again captured the overall Aramark Cup with 407 points, beating back the challenges of top-five finishers Michigan State (371), Ohio State (351), Wisconsin (348) and Michigan (331).

In the South Regional points race, the Lady Cavs won by a comfortable margin over runner-up Clemson and Tennessee. Michigan State and Ohio State went 1-2 in the Central Region.

The five regional winners receive automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. The NCAA committee then selects seven at-large teams based on their body of work during the season. Also, four at-large Varsity 8+ crews are selected for NCAA competition.

"We obviously wanted to finish stronger," said Glenn, who likes the chances of her Varsity 8+ crew at least getting an at-large berth.

Glenn's last two teams have been selected to compete in the NCAA Championships and five of the Lady Vols' Varsity 8+ crews have rowed for a national championship.

Sophomore coxswain Katie Ross, who directed Tennessee's Varsity 8+ shell to a sixth-place finish, echoed her coach's concerns about the Lady Vols' NCAA selection possibilities.

"It's gonna be close - I think we're on the bubble," she said.

The performance of the Tennessee's Varsity 8+ crew typified the weekend for the Lady Vols: high expectations, but so-so results.

UT finished behind winning Virginia, Michigan State, Michigan, Clemson and Wisconsin. The race featured five of the top 20 Varsity 8+ crews in the country.

Virginia won in 6 minutes 33.6 seconds while Tennessee posted a time of 6:40.3.

"We got off the line well and had a strong first 1,000 (meters)," said Ross. "By the time we hit the third 500 (meters) we tried to make our move but it just wasn't working.

"It wasn't anything in particular; we just needed to channel our energy (better). We raced hard, it's just sad when the outcome wasn't what we wanted."

That wasn't the case for ninth-ranked Virginia, which won the South Region for the fifth time in the last six years and the overall title for the fourth time in five years.

"I'm very pleased with how they've done," said Virginia coach Kevin Sauer.

"We raced to our capability against some great competition."

In other highlights for Tennessee, the Lady Vols' Varsity 4+ shell (coxswain Danielle Hmielewski, Rachel Dooley, Ruth Ann Johnson, Brittany Sehring, Stephanie Hunley) was third (7:39.19) in the petite final behind Wisconsin and Notre Dame.

In the Open 4+ "C" final, the Lady Vols' "A" shell of coxswain Jessica Williams, Jewell Ludwigsen, Lora Aaron, Angelica Amicucci and Tayte Olma was first (8:06.2) by more than six seconds over Louisville.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.