INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – After winning its 14th-staright SCAC Men’s Tennis Championship, the Trinity Tigers booked their ticket to compete in the 44-team NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships, which is set to begin with the first-, second- and third-round matchups this weekend, May 10-12. Interactive Bracket | NCAA Release
Trinity, which enters the NCAA Tournament as the 10th-ranked team in the ITA National Poll and second in the ITA West Regional Poll, will be competing in the national tournament for the 14th year in a row and the 30th time in program history. The Tigers won the NCAA Div. III Men’s Tennis national championship in 2000 and finished third in 2014.
Trinity, which is seeking its 45th NCAA Tournament victory, received a first-round bye and will open play on Saturday at 2:00 PM ET at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt., against the winner of MIT (18-3) and Bridgewater State (9-4). MIT earned the automatic bid out of the NEWMAC to earn its 26th NCAA appearance, while Bridgewater State is making its first NCAA appearance after capturing the Little East Conference crown.
On the other half of the bracket, host Middlebury (17-4) will take on the winner Friday’s match between Messiah (9-8) and Allegheny (15-5) on Saturday at 10:00 AM ET. The winner of the two Saturday matches, Trinity versus MIT/Bridgewater St and Middlebury versus Messiah/Allegheny in the regional finals on Sunday with a trip to the national quarterfinal round on the line.
Concordia University (TX). Concordia, ranked 11th in the most recent ITA West Regional Poll, earned the American Southwestern Conference’s automatic qualifying bid after outlasting Hardin-Simmons, 5-4, last Saturday to improve to 17-4. The winner of the Trinity/Concordia contest will take on the winner of host Claremont-M-S (19-4) and UC Santa Cruz (7-8) in the regional finals on Sunday with a trip to the national quarterfinal round 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 10-12, or Thursday-Saturday, May 9-11. Washington University in St. Louis will host the team championships finals, which will be held May 21-24 at Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Student-athletes selected to the individual championships will be announced Wednesday, May 8.
The championship provides for a 44-team tournament. Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 33 conference champions, which form "Pool A." Three teams will be selected from true independents and schools from conferences that do not have an automatic bid for their champions (Pool B). The remaining eight teams are selected from those teams in conferences with automatic bids that did not win their conference's AQ and the remaining Pool B institutions (Pool C). The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.
Case Western Reserve University is the defending national champion, having defeated Tufts University, 5-2, to claim the 2023 team title.
