Ithaca To Face Staten Island In NCAAs
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Ithaca College women's tennis team earned automatic qualification to the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship as champions of the Empire 8, and found out Monday, May 4 that they will compete this weekend in a first-round tournament match against the College of Staten Island on Friday, May 8. The six-team regional is hosted by Bowdoin College.
The Bombers are the Empire 8's lone representative in the 49-team NCAA Tournament. Ithaca is 5-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, winning first-round matches in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, and 2014. Ithaca has qualified for the NCAA tournament nine years in a row.
Ithaca brings a 13-8 dual-match record into the national tournament, while Staten Island is 13-4. Staten Island earned qualification via winning the championship of the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC). A match time will be announced in the near future by the host institution.
It is the second consecutive year that Ithaca and Staten Island will meet in a first-round match. In the 2014 tournament, Ithaca defeated Staten Island by a 6-0 score in a regional played at Williams.
The winner of Friday's match between Ithaca and Staten Island will advance to a regional semifinal against host Bowdoin on Saturday. In the other half of the six-team regional, Simmons will take on Plymouth State in the first round with the winner advancing to play against Middlebury on Saturday. The regional championship will be contested Sunday.
Regional-winning teams from each of the eight sites will advance to the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, and will be hosted by Ohio Northern University and the Warren County Convention and Visitor's Bureau. The team championship will take place May 18-20.
2015 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships Bracket (.pdf)
2014-15 Ithaca Women's Tennis Statistics