• BU men’s & women’s tennis each named top-8 NCAA seeds, will host early tournament matches

    Baylor men's and women's tennis players celebrate

    When the NCAA Tennis Championships begin this weekend, Waco will be a focal point — thanks to stellar regular seasons by the Baylor men’s and women’s tennis teams.

    Both programs earned top-8 national seeds and the right to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament at the Hurd Tennis Center. The men earned the No. 2 overall national seed, while the women secured the No. 8 overall seed; Baylor joined North Carolina and Texas as the only programs to have both their men and women earn top-8 seeds.

    Such accomplishments are quite familiar to both programs; the men are making their 23rd consecutive tournament appearance (and hosting for the 15th time), while the women extended their streak to 22 straight tournaments (including 12 times hosting).

    The men enter the NCAA tournament flying high, on the heels of their 14th Big 12 regular season title, their 10th Big 12 tournament title (secured with a win over top-seeded Texas) and their first No. 1 national ranking in the Oracle/ITA poll since 2005. Under interim head coach Michael Woodson, the Bears lead the nation with 29 wins heading into the tournament.

    Baylor’s women roll into the tournament with a 23-4 record that includes strong work against some of the nation’s best teams. Head coach Joey Scrivano’s team was 9-4 against teams that made this year’s NCAA tournament and finished second in Big 12 play, with their only loss coming to UT, before advancing to the championship match in the Big 12 tournament.

    The women will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in their first tournament match Friday at 5 p.m.; the winner will play the winner of Duke/Alabama on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the right to advance to the Sweet 16. The men, meanwhile, will also host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Saturday at 2 p.m.); the winner would face the winner of Alabama/Oregon Sunday at 2 p.m. in the second round.

    Sic ’em, Baylor tennis!