Today the NCAA announced the 43 teams that will compete in the 2019 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships. Principia College was one of three teams that was chosen for the "Pool B" selections. Despite the fact that the men's tennis team won the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Championship Tournament, the team did not get an Automatic Qualification (AQ) since there aren't enough teams in the SLIAC to merit the AQ.
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. Kalamazoo College will host the team championships finals, which will be held May 20-22 at Stowe Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Student-athletes selected to the individual championships will be announced Wednesday, May 8.
The championships provide for a 43-team tournament. Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 35 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 five 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.
This is the first time that the Principia College Men's Tennis Team as a whole has made the NCAA DIII National Tournament since the mid 1980's. They will face the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at 2:00 pm on Thursday, May 9th in St. Louis, Missouri at Washington University-St. Louis. Head Men's Tennis coach
Rusty Jones comments, "I'm really excited to learn that Principia's Men's Tennis team has made it to the national tournament. It's very exciting news for me certainly, but for this team that has worked extremely hard and probably become one of the strongest teams we've had in many, many, many years so we are anxious to go out and be able to compete one more time and just see where it takes us! We're really thrilled."
After Principia's Director of Athletics,
Pete Paciorek learned of the news that both the men's and women's teams qualified for NCAA DIII Nationals, he said, "Our entire institution celebrates this momentous accomplishment with both our women's and men's tennis teams here at Principia College. Wow! When I heard the wonderful news that both of our tennis teams were being rewarded and recognized for their hard work and dedication by earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Nationals, I was speechless. Kudos to both of our teams, our coaches, and most importantly all of our outstanding student-athletes. Coach Carney and Coach Jones are two of the highest caliber college coaches in the country and this accomplishment is a testament to that. Go Panthers!"
If you are in the St. Louis area on Thursday, the Principia College Men's Tennis team would love to have your support at the match!
