The College of Staten Island women’s tennis team is getting ready to make history this week. Months removed from its 2013 CUNYAC Championship, the netters will be ushering in their first-ever NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament appearance this weekend, when it travels to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, to take on Ithaca College in first round play. The match will take place on the Williams College campus on Friday, May 9, 2014. Start time is yet to be determined.
CSI is one of six teams at the host site this weekend. The University of Scranton will take on Tufts University also on Friday. On Saturday, the CSI-Ithaca winner will take on the hosts, while the Scranton-Tufts winner will face off against Skidmore College. The tournament follows a single elimination style with play suspending after the fifth point is won in each match.
The Dolphins enter the fray with a 17-3 overall record, automatic qualifiers thanks to their CUNYAC Championship clinch this past October. CSI has since played a pair of spring matches in anticipation of the national tourney. Ithaca enters at 13-6, winners of the Empire 8 Championship this past fall. They finished the fall 10-0, and posted only a 3-6 record this spring, albeit against some of the nation’s premier programs.
Williams College, the host institution, in enjoying a 19-2 campaign, earning an at-large bid into the tourney after falling in the NESCAC Championship on Sunday. Scranton is the automatic qualifier from the Landmark Conference, boasting an 11-6 mark, while Tufts, at 9-9, fell to Middlebury College in the NESCAC Tournament. Skidmore, at 17-3, will meet the winner there, representing as Liberty League champions.
