NCAA postseason tennis gets underway
The GIST: Serves up! The natty may still be a month away, but the postseason hits courts today. Three Power Five conferences — the ACC, SEC, and Big 12 — begin their women’s and men’s tournaments this week, and there’s more than hardware on the line…
- Each victorious squad books a ticket to the mid-May national tourney, while everyone else bites their nails waiting for an at-large invite from the selection committee. Crank up that pressure cooker.
ACC: The name of the game is dominance, and it belongs to Duke’s Blue Devils. The No. 6 women and No. 8 men were both Top 25 mainstays this season and scored No. 2 seeds in their respective ACC tourneys. The No. 1 seeds in their paths? The No. 1 UNC gals and No. 8 Virginia fellas. What was that about pressure?
- All the ACC-tion begins today with Clemson and Virginia Tech in the first women’s match at 10 a.m. ET, followed by Clemson’s men vs. Boston College at 3:30 p.m. ET.
SEC: Have a peach…or four! The view is pretty sweet from Georgia where the Bulldogs’ No. 4 women and men are poised for an SEC championship run. But they better beware: The undefeated No. 2 Texas A&M gals and No. 9 Tennessee fellas both want a big juicy bite.
- Before the big ’Dawgs battle it out, see how Missouri’s women fare against Ole Miss and Arkansas’ men contend with Vanderbilt when the SEC starts serving at 1 p.m. ET today.
Big 12: The Big 12’s action starts when TCU and West Virginia’s women compete at 11 a.m. ET tomorrow, and Oklahoma and Baylor start the men’s party at 9 a.m. ET on Friday. That wait should buy you plenty of time to study up on the conference’s top contender: Texas.
- The No. 1 Longhorn lads secured the top seed and their 10th regular-season conference title with Saturday's 5–2 win over No. 3 TCU, while the No. 12 lassies claimed the same seed thanks to their stellar 8-1 regular season record.
