Women's Tournament Bracket /
Men's Tournament Bracket
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Both the ACU men's and women's tennis teams will have a tough opening act Wednesday when they get started at the NCAA Division II national tennis tournament at Sanlando Park.
The seventh-ranked ACU women's team will play fourth-ranked Lynn (Fla.) at 9:30 a.m., while the 19th-ranked ACU men's team will play sixth-ranked Hawaii Pacific at 12:30 p.m.
On the women's side, the Wildcats (27-7) will be trying to beat Lynn (23-3) for the first time ever. The Knights have beaten ACU four times in the tournament, including a 5-2 win over the Wildcats in last year's semifinals. Other Lynn wins over ACU came in 1997 (5-0 in quarterfinals), 2001 (5-0 in quarterfinals) and 2005 (5-0 in first round).
Lynn is a three-time NCAA Division II national champion (1997, 1998 and 2001) and four-time runner-up, including last year when it lost to two-time defending national champion Armstrong Atlantic (Ga.). Armstrong Atlantic is 29-0 on the season and ranked No. 1 in the nation going into Wednesday's first round.
The winner of the ACU-Lynn match will play either Slippery Rock (21-5) or St. Cloud State (23-6) at 8 a.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals. The winner of that quarterfinal match will likely play No. 3-ranked BYU-Hawaii (29-0) in one semifinal match on Friday.
On the men's side, the Wildcats (17-11) will try to get past the Sea Warriors (19-2) and advance into the quarterfinal round for the first time since 1998.
While ACU is making its fourth straight appearance in the national tournament, the Wildcats have lost in the first round in each of their last six appearances (2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009). The last time ACU made it out of the first round was in 1998 when the Wilcats beat California-Davis in the first round before suffering a quarterfinal loss to Armstrong Atlantic. ACU, however, has never advanced past the quarterfinal round at the national tournament.
The winner of the ACU-Hawaii Pacific match will likely face No. 1-ranked Valdosta State in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Blazers beat ACU, 9-0, on April 2 at the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery, Ala.
