NCAA News Archive - 2004

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Tennis committee prepares for combined postseason in 2006


Aug 16, 2004 3:14:14 PM


The NCAA News

The Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Committee discussed future championship sites and revised selection criteria at its annual meeting July 6-9 in Indianapolis.

In 2006, the men's and women's championships will be held at a common site, and the committee heard presentations from eight groups hoping to host the event. Six were chosen for in-person presentations. Final sites must be approved by the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, and because of the high quality of bids, the committee decided to award sites four years out. The cabinet will consider the recommendations in September, and sites for the 2006-09 championships will be announced at that time.

The committee proposed a common-site event to enhance the student-athlete experience and reduce the burden for institutions. The common site also allows for more comprehensive television coverage.

In addition to site selections, the committee reviewed team and individual selection criteria and plans to recommend changes to the cabinet that will more closely align the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings with the selection criteria.

The committee also voted to require singles players to play a minimum of 13 matches and doubles teams a minimum of 10 matches to be considered for the championship. The minimum requirements, which must be approved by the cabinet, would help to make the selection process more equitable.

In other actions, the committee clarified the line-up form by allowing 15 slots instead of the current 10. Of those 15 slots, eight may be designated to participate in an event, which gives coaches a larger pool of players from which to choose. Players still must be chosen the day before the match. This proposal also must be approved by the cabinet.

Committee members also decided to keep the current ball-change format for the 2005 championships, but they will review the issue at next year's meeting. Currently, the ball is changed after the ninth game and then 11 games later.

The men's and women's tennis committee also:

  • Recommended to the cabinet that its membership expand beginning in September 2006. The committee is proposing an increase from 14 to 16 members, which also would add two members to the women's subcommittee. Those members would be at-large representatives to the group.

  • Requested cabinet permission to survey the membership about separating the individual (singles and doubles) championship from the team championship in the future. The proposal positions the individual championship in the fall and the team championship in the spring. If approved by the cabinet, the committee would survey the membership in 2004-05 and revisit the issue at the committee's 2005 meeting.

  • Proposed making warm-up times more consistent for both men and women. Both will be allowed five minutes of warm-up time before team and individual matches and 10 minutes between singles and doubles play. The committee also voted to pre-assign practice times according to first-round match times.

    Subcommittee actions

    The men's and women's subcommittees also conducted separate meetings. The women's subcommittee proposed several changes to the women's championship, including allowing host institutions at first- and second-round sites to recommend the order of match times. Currently, the higher-seeded team is required to play the first match.

    The women's subcommittee also proposed that all first- and second-round matches be played on Friday and Saturday. Currently, they can be played on Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday. Mandating Friday-Saturday play will allow more time between the second round and the round of 16 (at the finals site) that takes place on the Thursday after first- and second-round competition.

    The women's subcommittee also recommended that H. Randy Smith, assistant athletics director at Tennessee Technological University, chair the group. Smith also was recommended as chair of the joint committee as well.

    The men's subcommittee recommended Peter Wright, head men's tennis coach at the University of California, Berkeley, as its chair.


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