April 30, 2008

Tennis Heads to Missouri for NCAA's

North Central Regional; SW Baptist Hosts Both

     Men's Complete Bracket .... Women's Complete Bracket

       Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney tennis teams will head to Bolivar, Mo., next weekend for the first round of the NCAA Division II Championships.

      Southwest Baptist University, of the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association), is the No. 1 seed in the North Central Regional on both the men's and women's side.

      In tennis, the NCAA Division II Championships begin with two or four team brackets at 16-regional sites. No more than 64-teams from around the country make the single-elimination regional tournaments.

      The winners at each regional site advance to a 16-team tournament May 14-17 in Houston, Texas.

      The Loper men (14-5), making a fifth straight NCAA trip, are the 5^th-seed in the North Central and will face rival Metro State in the first round at a date and time TBA. The 4^th-seeded Roadrunners (12-6) just beat UNK in the RMAC Tournament finals, 5-2.

      The dates would be either May 8^th or 9^th (Thurs.-Fri.). This will be the sixth meeting between the two over the last two years; Metro currently leads the "series", 3-2.

      The winner will face either top-seed SW Baptist (12-5) or Truman State (13-7) on May 9th or 10th.   

      The UNK women (13-10), fresh off a first-ever RMAC Tournament title, will face the home standing SW Baptist Bearcats (16-7) on May 8^th or 9^th as well.

      SBU beat the Lopers, 8-1, on March 22^nd in Maryville, Mo. The four-five match-up is between Truman State (21-5) and North Dakota (13-4).

      UNK's only other NCAA trip came in 1997 when the Lopers fell to Northern Colorado in the first round of the Midwest Regional. On the men's side, UNK is 4-7 all-time in NCAA play with "Sweet 16" appearances in 2005 and 2006.