Indianapolis – The NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Committee has selected the field of teams that will complete for the 2014 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championship. The Gustavus Adolphus men’s tennis team is one of 44 participants in this year’s tournament, receiving the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s automatic berth after winning the MIAC Playoff Championship last Sunday in St. Peter, Minn.
The teams will play a single-elimination tournament with the first, second and third rounds played at regional sites, May 9-11. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges will host the team championships finals, which will be held May 19-21 at Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California. Student-athletes selected to the individual championships will be announced Wednesday, May 7.
Gustavus Adolphus College has also been selected as the host site of one of eight regional tournaments spanning the country. Gustavus welcomes Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, UW-Whitewater (Whitewater, Wis.) of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Grinnell College (Grinnell, Iowa) of the Midwest Conference, and Wisconsin Lutheran College (Milwaukee, Wis.) of the Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference to St. Peter for first, second, and third round action taking place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The championships provide for a 44-team tournament. Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 32 conference champions, which form “Pool A.” Five teams are selected from true independents and schools from conferences that do not have an automatic bid for their champions (Pool B). The remaining seven 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.
At 22-6 overall, Trinity heads into the NCAA Tournament as the top overall seed in the Gustavus regional. The Tigers will face the winner of a first round matchup between the Grinnell Pioneers (31-5) and the Wisconsin Lutheran Warriors (10-2) scheduled to be played on Friday, May 9 at 1:00 p.m. On Saturday, May 10, host Gustavus will battle the UW-Whitewater Warhawks (20-7) at 11:00 a.m. followed by Trinity’s match later at 3:00 p.m. The second round winners will meet in the regional final set for Sunday, May 11 at 12:00 p.m.
The Gustavus men’s tennis team is hosting the NCAA Regional at the Brown Outdoor Tennis Complex for the first time since 2011. Trinity claimed the regional title that season via a 5-2 victory over the University of Chicago on May 15.
Gustavus is making its 27th appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1983. With an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 46-31, the Golden Gusties have finished runner-up twice, third three times, and fourth five times in their previous 26 showings under the current “true team” format. Prior to 1983, Gustavus won NCAA Championships in 1980 and 1982 when champions were based on individual scoring at the NCAA Tournament. In all, Gustavus has earned a trip the NCAA’s postseason tournament a total of 30 times in school history.