The Penn State Behrend women's tennis team will be making its sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament this weekend. The Lions will travel to Pittsburgh, PA to face the No. 10 Carnegie Mellon Tartans, the hosts of the first three rounds of the competition beginning on Thursday.
No. 6 Wesleyan, Stevens Institute of Technology, Scranton, No. 49 Ohio Northern and Allegheny complete the seven-team bracket.
Starting action on Thursday will be Stevens (11-7) against Scranton (11-9) with the winner playing Wesleyan (18-3) on Friday. Also, competing on Thursday will be the Tartans (21-4) against Penn State Behrend (10-5) and Ohio Northern (18-4) versus Allegheny (11-11). The winners will play Friday.
The two Friday winners will play on Saturday for the chance to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California, from May 19-22.
The Lions earned the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference's (AMCC) automatic bid into the 49-team tournament after winning their 15th conference title. Behrend defeated Pitt-Greensburg 4-0 to advance to the NCAA Championships.
The Tartans finished fourth in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships last weekend. Carnegie Mellon lost 4-0 to No. 10 Washington University in St. Louis, 4-0. The appearance in the postseason event will be the 19th for the program.
All match times are still to be determined and will be announced as soon as information is available.
The Tartans' home tennis venue is in the center of campus with six playing courts, a video scoreboard and individual court cameras for live streaming. Should play get moved indoors, the tournament will be played at Alpha Tennis and Fitness in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.