| The No. 45 Penn State men's tennis team received it's third all-time NCAA Tournament berth on Wednesday. Brad Hunter (pictured) and the Nittany Lions look to pick up Penn State's second ever NCAA Tournament win on May 13 when they face No. 21 University of Washington at Virginia Commonwealth University. |
2006 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships Bracket
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ?C May 3, 2006 ?C The Penn State men??s tennis team has received its third all-time NCAA Tournament bid and first since 1998, the NCAA Division I Men??s Tennis Subcommittee announced Wednesday evening.
The No. 45 Nittany Lions (17-6) are set to face No. 21 University of Washington (18-5) in a first-round match-up to be held in Richmond, Va. on May 13. The winner of that match will advance to meet the winner of the first-round match between No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth (25-4) and University of Richmond (16-13) on May 14, also at Virginia Commonwealth University.
??[This selection] was due to a great effort by players who really have performed well the past couple years as well as the players who were on the team a couple years ago and have graduated,?? said head coach Bill Potoczny. ??This is also a big part of what [former head coach] Jan Bortner has given the team in the past couple years and a lot of credit also goes to Dan Holman who came in and did a great job in the six months he??s been here.??
Potoczny, in his first year as head coach, led Penn State to a 19-7 overall record as the Nittany Lions went 17-6 this spring and finished the Big Ten regular season at 5-5. The Lions received a No. 6 seed for the conference tournament and came away tying for third place, equaling a team-best finish for the men??s tennis program as Penn State reached the semifinals for the first time since 1993.
??We watched the announcement together tonight as a team and everyone is really excited,?? said Potoczny. ??We??re very proud that we??re able to get into the postseason and hopefully we can play our best tennis in the upcoming weekend.??
Tonight??s selection marks the Penn State men??s tennis program??s third-all time NCAA Tournament berth, as the Nittany Lions have not been to the tournament since they made two consecutive appearances in 1997 and 1998. Penn State not only received a bid in 1998, but also grabbed its first NCAA Tournament win that year with a 4-1 upset over Columbia, earning a trip to the East Regional semifinals where they would fall to eventual regional champion Harvard.
First- and second-round competition will be conducted Friday through Saturday or Saturday through Sunday, May 12-13 or 13-14, with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Men??s Tennis Championships at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, California, hosted by the Stanford University. The team championship will be held May 20-23.
For more information on the NCAA Division I Men??s Tennis Championships please visit www.ncaasports.com.