Emory Men's Tennis Starts NCAA Tourney Action at Washington & Lee Regional

Washington & Lee Regional Web Site


The No. 2-ranked Emory University men's tennis team starts the quest for a successful postseason run this weekend when it competes in the NCAA Division III Regionals.  The Eagles of head coach John Browning travel to Lexington, Virginia, for the second straight year and will take part in a five-team field that includes No. 12-ranked North Carolina Wesleyan, host Washington & Lee, Grove City College (PA) and Elizabethtown.

Emory is the top seed and drew an opening-round bye.  The Eagles, 20-3 on the year, will play on Saturday, May 14, in semifinal action against the winner of the Grove City-Elizabethtown match that will be played on Friday.  Saturday's other semifinal will see Washington & Lee battle NC Wesleyan.  The regional championship will be conducted on Sunday, May 15. 

Emory will be returning to action for the first time since the UAA Championships (Apr. 15-17) where it captured first place, the 21^th time in the last 22 seasons it brought home the conference crown.  The Eagles opened the UAAs with a 9-0 decision over Rochester before posting a 7-1 decision over No. 17 Carnegie Mellon in the semifinals.  In the title match, Emory defended its title with a 6-0 verdict over No. 5-ranked Washington University.

Grove City, 11-2 on the year, earned an automatic bid to the postseason after winning the President’s Athletic Conference Championship for the 21^st straight year.   Senior Ricky Garrett was named the PAC’s Player of the Year while head coach Joe Walters received Coach of the Year recognition.

Elizabethtown will take on Grove City with a 13-5 won-lost ledger.  The Blue Jays garnered an automatic berth to the NCAAs after recording a 5-0 decision over Lycoming in the title match of the Commonwealth Conference Championships.  E-town’s top singles player is junior Manrique Arrea who has a 9-3 record this spring.

North Carolina Wesleyan, ranked 12^th nationally, heads into its encounter against host Washington & Lee with a 13-2 record.  The Bishops captured their third straight USA South crown, defeating Christopher Newport by an 8-1 count, propelling the team to an automatic berth to the national tournament.

Washington & Lee stands 15-3 after claiming the Old Dominion Athletic Conference title with a 5-0 verdict over Hampden-Sydney.  Sophomore Hayden White is a First Team All-UAA performer at No. 1 singles and has registered an overall record of 18-4 this season.

This year’s tournament is comprised of 42 teams.  Automatic qualification (AQ) was granted to 29 conference champions, which form "Pool A."  Seven teams are selected from true independents and schools from conferences that do not have an automatic bid for their champions (Pool B).  The remaining six 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).

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges will host the team championships finals, which will be held May 24-26 at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, Calif.  Student-athletes selected to the individual championships will be announced Wednesday, May 11.