The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s tennis team will open play in the 2018 American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament with a First Round match on Thursday (May 3rd) in Richardson. The Cru is making its ninth consecutive appearance in the ASC Championship Tournament.
The UMHB men will open the tournament with a 2 pm Quarterfinal Match against East Texas Baptist University. The Cru finished the regular season at 4-7 and went 3-3 in ASC West Division play to clinch the West Division’s #3 seed. ETBU finished 5-9 overall and went 4-1 in the ASC East Division to earn the #2 seed from the East. The two teams did not face each other during the regular season. Jace Mahan leads the Cru with a 7-4 singles record, playing primarily at #3 singles and Brian Martin has a 6-5 mark, mainly playing #4 singles. Mahan and Cole Weiss have paired for a team best 7-4 record in doubles play, splitting the year between #1 and #2 doubles. The Cru does not have a senior on the roster and features just two juniors in the typical line-up this season. John Herr leads the ETBU men with an 8-6 record in singles play. Joseph Salinas and Ty Tarver have an 8-6 doubles mark for the Tigers after splitting the year between #2 and #3 doubles.
The winner of the UMHB-ETBU match will advance to the ASC Semifinals to face the winner of the U.T.-Dallas (9-1, 6-0 ASC)/LeTourneau University (4-13, 1-4 ASC) match. Should UMHB win Thursday, that Semifinal match will be played at 2 pm on Friday. On the other side of the bracket, Hardin-Simmons (6-12, 5-1 ASC) faces University of the Ozarks (8-10, 3-2 ASC) and Concordia Texas (8-8, 2-4 ASC) takes on U.T.-Tyler (17-4, 5-0 ASC). The ASC Championship Match is scheduled for 11 am on Saturday, May 5th, and the tournament champion clinches the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships. The tournament will be played at the UTD Tennis Courts on the campus of U.T.-Dallas. For more information, including live stats, tournament history and parking information, you can visit U.T.-Dallas’ Tournament Central page at the following link:http://utdcomets.com/sports/2018/4/26/2018-asc-mens-tennis-tournament.aspx. U.T.-Tyler enters this year’s tournament as the four-time defending ASC champions and the Patriots have won nine of the last ten conference titles on the men’s side.
