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RALEIGH, N.C. -- Elon is staying close to home to open the NCAA Tournament.
It's even better for North Carolina State -- the Wolfpack will be at home.
The teams will clash in a rematch from the regular season in a first-round game in the NCAA Women's Tournament on Friday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum.
"We know (our fans) make it a great homecourt advantage," N.C. State coach Wes Moore said. "I know we'll be ready to play."
For No. 21 N.C. State (24-8), landing a home bid was among the goals after the Wolfpack was denied that opportunity last year and ended up as a No. 6 regional seed in Austin, Texas. This time, the Wolfpack is the No. 4 seed in the Kansas City Region.
N.C. State is playing as a host for NCAA Tournament games for the first time since 2007. The Wolfpack are 12-2 in NCAA games in Raleigh.
For 13th-seeded Elon (25-7), it's slightly more than an hour drive from its campus to the tournament venue.
"This is a great opportunity to play in our state and be in our backyard and fans to be able to come to the game; that's exciting to me," Elon coach Charlotte Smith said. "It's to improve the brand of women's basketball to have people in the stands ... to make it an exciting environment."
Last season, Elon was sent to College Park, Md., where it was a No. 11 seed and lost to West Virginia in its only NCAA Tournament appearance as a Division I program.
Moore has his team in the tournament for the second year in a row and the third time in the last five seasons.
"I've never had a team that I'm more proud of as a group," Moore said, noting a rough start to ACC play prior to a seven-game winning streak. "They really turned it around."
The Wolfpack reached the ACC Tournament semifinals before losing to Louisville, which is a No. 1 regional seed for the NCAA Tournament. Senior forward Chelsea Nelson leads N.C. State in scoring (13.4 points per game) and rebounding (9.6).
"(Our team has) beaten some good teams, gone toe-to-toe in this league with some of the best teams in the country," Moore said.
Elon carries a 13-game winning streak into the NCAAs after repeating as champion of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Phoenix defeated host Drexel in the title game, marking the second year in a row it won the league tournament final on an opposing team's home court.
Elon holds a 9-6 road record this season.
This is a rematch of a Dec. 16 game, which N.C. State won 70-57 at home by pulling away in the final few minutes.
"I thought we matched up well with them," said Elon guard Shay Burnett, the team's leading scorer at 13.3 points per game. "We're a whole different team than we were early in the season."
In the 2015-16 season, Elon won a road game against N.C. State. That was played at a Raleigh high school because of renovations taking place at Reynolds Coliseum.
There are numerous ties between the Elon and N.C. State programs. The late Kay Yow, who became a legendary N.C. State coach, started the Elon program before moving on to the Wolfpack. N.C. State athletics director Debbie Yow is on the Elon board of trustees. Elon assistant coach Christy McKinney is a former N.C. State player under Kay Yow.
The Elon-N.C. State winner advances to Sunday's second round against fifth-seeded Maryland or 12th-seeded Princeton, who meet in Friday's first game in Raleigh.
