INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – After winning its first SCAC Men’s Tennis Championship in program history, the Colorado College Tigers booked their ticket to compete in the 44-team NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships, which is set to begin with first-, second- and third-round matchups this weekend, May 7-10. Interactive Bracket | NCAA Release
Colorado College will be competing in the national tournament for the first time in program history. The Tigers received a first-round bye and will open play on Friday at Claremont-M-S in Claremont, Calif., against former SCAC foe University of the South – Sewanee (21-1). Sewanee earned the automatic qualifying bid out of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) after defeating Trinity University, 4-3. This will mark the first time an SCAC opponent has faced a team from the SAA in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament. Sewanee, a former member of the SCAC was 2-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament when competing as a conference member before moving to the SAA.
On the other half of the bracket, host CMS (30-1) will take on East Texas Baptist University (13-7) on Friday with the winner advancing to face the winner of the Colorado College/UOS match on Saturday in the Regional Finals with a trip to the National Quarterfinals on the line.
The teams will play a single-elimination tournament with the first, second and third-rounds played at regional sites, Friday-Sunday, May 8-10, or Thursday-Saturday, May 7-9. University of the South and Chattanooga, TN in Chattanooga, Tennessee will host the team championships finals, which will be held May 19-22 at Champions Tennis Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Student-athletes selected to the individual championships will be announced Wednesday, May 6.
The championship provides for a 44-team tournament. Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 35 conference champions.
The remaining nine teams will be selected from true independents, schools from conferences that do not have an automatic bid for their champions, and teams in conferences with an automatic bid that did not win their conferences AQ (At-Large). The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.
Denison University is the defending national champion, having defeated Case Western 4-2 to claim the team title.
