The NCAA Tennis selections begin Thursday, May 2 beginning with the men at 4:30 p.m. (MT) for the men and 5:00 p.m. (MT) for the women. SMU, the men's conference champions, and Fresno State, the women's conference champions, will lead the WAC field.
For the men, the SMU Mustangs earned a bid with their 2002 WAC Championship victory, defeating Tulsa, 4-1 in the finals. They are led by WAC Player of the Year, Krystian Pfeiffer. The Mustangs have been in the ITA top 50 all season. Tulsa and Rice also have chances for at-large bids to the 64-team field.
Fresno State won the women's 2002 WAC Championship, defeating SMU, 4-0. They are led by WAC Player of the Year, Kim Niggemeyer. The Bulldogs have been in the ITA top 30 all season. SMU and Boise State both have shots at the at-larges bids.
There are a few things considered for the selection process. First selected are the top 16 teams, followed by the remaining 48 at-large teams. All 64 teams will be looked at geographically, based on the 400-mile radius, to determine the groups of four for all 16 sites. The 16 seeded teams will each be placed at one of the 16 determined sites, avoiding conference match ups in the first round only. Seeds are ranked one through four within each group (all 16). Finally, hosting is based on creating the fewest airline flights.