The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team was ranked #6 in the East Region in the first NCAA Division II poll of the season, released on Wednesday.
The Spartans, currently 11-5 (4-1 ECC) are looking for their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid via either an East Coast Conference Championship, which would also be a program first, or an at-large bid. STAC has appeared in the ECC Tennis Tourney the last three seasons, falling in the semifinal round each year (2016 - NYIT, 2017 - Queens and 2018 - NYIT), but have secured a four consecutive trip to the conference playoffs under Head Coach Matt Capell, with full intentions of making some noise in the postseason this year.
In the East Region, the Tournament Champions of the East Coast Conference (ECC), Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10), and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) each earn an automatic bid to the NCAAs, with the other three bids offered to the remaining top-ranked teams on an "at-large" basis. The current rankings have Concordia College (CACC, 12-1 record) in the top slot, Southern New Hampshire University (NE-10, 11-2) at No. 2, Chestnut Hill University (CACC, 14-2) at three, Merrimack College (NE-10, 11-1) at four, Queens College (ECC, 8-3) at five, St. Thomas Aquinas College (ECC, 10-5) at six, followed by Post University (CT) from the CACC at 10-6, just outside the six team regional tourney cut off at seven and Bentley University from the NE-10 at 8-2 holding the eighth spot.
STAC has three non-conference matches remaining in 2018-2019 regular season play, beginning with a road contest at Kutztown University on Thursday. The Spartans then host Franklin Pierce University on April 20th, before heading to Stonehill College on April 23rd.
Postseason play will open on Friday, April 26th when #2 seeded St. Thomas Aquinas takes on #3 seed NYIT in the East Coast Conference Men's Tennis Championship Semifinal Round at host and #1 seed Queens College.
NCAA Men's Tennis East Region Rankings (Through games played April 14, 2019)
- Concordia (N.Y.): 12-1
- So. New Hampshire: 11-2
- Chestnut Hill: 14-2
- Merrimack: 11-1
- Queens (N.Y.): 8-3
- St. Thomas Aquinas: 10-5
- Post (Conn.): 10-6
- Bentley: 8-2