ST. PETER, Minn. The Whitman Blues Men's Tennis team will head to the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships for the third consecutive year, and now the Blues know their destination: they will be headed to St. Peter Minnesota to be one of six teams playing in the Gustavus Adolphus regional.
The Blues, who enter postseason play 16-7 overall and ranked No. 20 entering the postseason, receive a buy for the NCAA regional first round and will await the winner of the first round match played between No. 40 Coe College and the University of Northwestern – St. Paul. The regional host, No. 6 Gustavus Adolphous College, will play the other second round regional match against the victor between Grinnell and Concordia-Wisconsin.
"We are really excited about the opportunity to travel to Minnesota and play again in the NCAA championships" said Men's Tennis head coach Jeff Northam. "Our young men have worked hard all year for this opportunity, and we think that the chance to play in this regional will be a great reward for this team."
Whitman comes into this year's tournament with the belief that this team is more focused and ready for the postseason than ever before. The Blues have a senior-laden roster, and consist of several players with extensive postseason experience.
"We have traveled all over and played an incredibly difficult schedule this year to make sure we are ready for this moment" added Northam. " We defeated Gustavus at home last year, and with the experience playing our schedule, there is not a team in this regional that truly scares us that we do not believe that we can compete with and have a chance at winning."
If the Blues are to make a deep run into this year's tournament, they will rely on the senior leadership from Zach Hewlin, Gary Ho, and Robert Carter. The trio, along with Ben Kirsh, will be expected to continue their excellent play as of late, including defending their home court in winning the Northwest Conference championship for the 11th consecutive season.
The Blues played four teams during the 2017-2018 regular season that make up the field of the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis championships. The Blues went 1-3 in those four contests, but two of the losses were closely contested 5-4 matchups to current No. 3 Bowdoin and Sewanee, who was ranked No. 23 in the country when the two teams met back in March.
Whitman will take the court at 12 p.m. pacific time on Friday, and if they are to win their second round match, the Blues would be back on the court Saturday, May 12th at 10 a.m. PT for the Regional Championship.
The NCAA Division III Men's Tennis championship provides for a 43-team tournament that will culminate in a national champion at the Bizantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California from May 21-26.
