Championship Central | Bracket:
Men,
Women
INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference announced Saturday evening that Drury University, University of Indianapolis and University of Missouri-St. Louis have earned the top divisional seeds for the 2017 GLVC Men's and Women's Tennis Championship Tournaments, which will be hosted by the GLVC April 21-23 at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
On the men’s side, Indianapolis (6-0) and Drury (5-0) earned perfect Conference records to claim the GLVC East and West Division titles, respectively, as well as the No. 1 seeds within the division. For the women, Indianapolis earned the No. 1 seed and outright East title with an unblemished 6-0 league record, while Missouri-St. Louis picked up the West’s top seed by virtue of winning a three-way tiebreaker with Drury and Rockhurst University, which were all 5-1 in the GLVC. All three teams, which will share the West Division crown, were 1-1 in head-to-head competition and had all beaten the remaining seeded teams, so the final tiebreak came down to highest percentage of matches won over matches played between the three. UMSL had 10 wins in 18 matches (.555), Drury won nine of 18 (.500) and Rockhurst had a .444 win percentage based on its eight wins in 18 matches. Rockhurst then beat out Drury head-to-head for the No. 2 seed based on its 5-4 win March 31 in Kansas City.
The 2017 event marks the 37th annual edition for the women and 39th for the men. The tournaments will be contested mainly at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center but Match #2 in the men’s and women’s event will be played at the Washington University Tao Tennis Center, barring any inclement weather.
The top-four teams based on highest divisional winning percentage from each of the GLVC's two divisions earn a spot in the two eight-team tournaments. Both events are single-elimination with a championship match conducted on Sunday.
The women will play first at 9 a.m. with top-seed UIndy (14-3, 6-0 GLVC) facing the No. 4 seed in the West, Maryville University (14-9, 3-3 GLVC) at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center. Rockhurst (13-6, 5-1 GLVC), the second seed in the West, squares off against the East's No. 3 seed Lewis University (15-6, 4-2 GLVC) at the same time at WashU Tao Tennis Center.
The No. 1 seed in the West, Missouri-St. Louis (13-1, 5-1 GLVC), will also be in action at 9 a.m. on Friday, doing battle with University of Illinois Springfield (9-9, 3-3 GLVC), the No. 4 seed from the East. Also at 9 a.m. will be the East’s No. 2 seed, Bellarmine University (18-4, 5-1 GLVC), facing the West’s third seed Drury (18-2, 5-1 GLVC). Both matchups will take place at Dwight Davis.
UIndy has claimed a league-best nine women's tennis titles with the last coming in 2015. Drury is close behind with seven after winning its most recent in 2014. Former league member Northern Kentucky and Saint Joseph's both have won the third most titles with six each. Defending champion Lewis has two titles, while Bellarmine and former league member SIU Edwardsville have both recorded one Conference championship in the past.
The top-seeded Greyhounds (12-4, 6-0 GLVC) will battle Quincy (2-13, 2-3 GLVC), the No. 4 seed in the West, at 12 p.m. on Friday at Dwight Davis for the men’s tournament, while the West's No. 2 seed Rockhurst (12-6, 4-1 GLVC) faces East No. 3 University of Southern Indiana (16-9, 4-2 GLVC) at the same time but on the WashU courts. The winners will face one another Saturday at 12 p.m. at Dwight Davis.
In the bottom half of the bracket, the top-seeded Panthers (16-2, 5-0 GLVC) face McKendree University (11-9, 3-3 GLVC), the East's No. 4 seed, in a match that takes place Friday at 12 p.m. at Dwight Davis. The winner of that contest will meet the victor between the East's No. 2 seed Lewis (13-9, 5-1 GLVC) and Missouri-St. Louis (7-4, 3-2 GLVC), which is the No. 3 seed in the West, at the same time and place.
Bellarmine and Indianapolis hold the most men's crowns with eight, as UIndy is the defending champion. Drury and Southern Indiana follow with seven titles apiece, while former league member Northern Kentucky has five titles, while Rockhurst (2) and former league member SIU Edwardsville (2) are the only other schools to have earned a GLVC Men's Tennis Championship.
The women's championship final match will take place at 9 a.m. on Sunday at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center, while the men’s title contest will take place at noon.
Daily admission to Dwight Davis and WashU will be $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. Youth tickets for ages 3-14 will be $1, while any child under 3 and GLVC students with a valid ID will be admitted free. A three-day pass is $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and students.
For complete tournament details and coverage information, visit the championship central site at
GLVCsports.com/tennis17.
UPDATE:
Drury, Rockhurst and Missouri-St. Louis were incorrectly seeded for the women’s tournament in Saturday night’s release due to an error in the calculation of the tiebreaker. Missouri-St. Louis is the No. 1 West seed, Rockhurst is the No. 2 West seed and Drury is the No. 3 West seed. Additionally, there were court changes for both the men’s and women's tournaments.