The Boise State University men’s tennis team reached its third-straight NCAA Championship with an automatic bid and will face No. 41 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Friday, May 11, at noon (MT) at Austin, Texas.
The Broncos closed out the regular season with a win over Fresno State in the finals of the 2007 WAC Championship to finish the season 29-5 including winning their last 13 matches consecutively. The team is 15-5 this season against nationally ranked opponents. This will be the fourth NCAA appearance for Boise State in the past five seasons as the team reached the second round each time.
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi enters the match ranked No. 41 in the country with a 14-5 record after receiving the automatic bid from the Southland Conference. The Islanders have won eight of their previous nine matches with their only loss coming to No. 11 Texas at Austin, Texas. The other teams in the bracket include No. 11 Texas (18-8) and Navy (15-10).
Hawai`i's Andreas Weber will be among the 64 singles players that will compete in the 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships. The freshman from Huenfeld, Germany, earned an at-large selection and becomes the first Rainbow Warrior tennis player to gain an invitation since the NCAA went to a 64-player format.
Weber is currently ranked 48th in the latest ITA/FILA rankings and has put together an impressive resume on his way to an NCAA bid. He achieved the school's highest ever singles ranking at No. 37 in January and was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year earlier this week. Weber owns a team-best 24-6 overall record and a 15-2 mark in dual match play. His wins this year include those over players from then-No. 10 Stanford, No. 32, Tulsa, No. 75 Santa Clara, No. 59 St. Mary's, No. 22 Michigan, No. 28 Texas A&M, No. 27 Washington and No. 38 California.
Luke Shields and Piotr Dilaj of the Boise State University men’s tennis team have been selected to compete in the 2007 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship, May 23-28, at Athens, Ga.
Shields will be participating in both the singles and doubles competition after earning the automatic qualifier bids out of the Western Athletic Conference. He will be seeded in the No. 9-16 range in the 64-person singles tournament. This is the third consecutive season Shields has been selected to the NCAA Tennis Championships in both singles and doubles. He earned All-American status in 2005 in both singles and doubles by reaching the Round of 16 in each bracket. He is currently ranked No. 15 in singles with a 33-6 record and ranked No. 56 along with Dilaj in doubles after the pair posted a 14-9 record.
This is the first selection to the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship for Dilaj. He will be participating in the 32-team doubles portion of the tournament with Shields, with whom he earned first-team all-WAC honors in doubles this season.
The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 23-28 at Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia, hosted by the University of Georgia, following the conclusion of the team championship (May 17-22).