SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men's tennis team has earned its spot among the 64-team field in the NCAA Division I Championships. The 41st-ranked Roadrunners learned during Monday afternoon's NCAA Selection Show that they have been selected to face No. 37 Pepperdine at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 6, in the opening round of the Austin, Texas Regional, hosted by overall No. 1-seed Texas.
Marking the fifth time in program history that the Roadrunners will make a postseason NCAA appearance, this historic season is the first in program history to result in an NCAA at-large selection. Currently ranking at 41st, UTSA has been listed as high as a program-record No. 34 this season and at 18-6 have accrued the most wins since the 1985 season. The 2023 Roadrunners made only the second program appearance in the Conference USA championship final – finishing as the league runner-up. Yet another major program milestone, UTSA went undefeated from Feb. 17 to April 23, reaching 14 consecutive wins for the longest streak in NCAA Division I at the time.
The Roadrunners earned victories over six ranked opponents on the season, while all six of their losses were to teams currently among the national rankings – five appearing in the top 50. Nine of UTSA's 2023 opponents are also appearing in the NCAA's field of 64.
"Seeing us that high is not surprising based on the year we had," head coach Sergey Avdeyev said. "We're going to a very tough region obviously, to a one-seed, but I feel comfortable going there because we've played theree and we know the courts. Facing Pepperdine, its a very well-coached team. They had great success as well. We played them in doubles in the fall, and I feel like we have a fair shot at them."
UTSA previously made appearances in the NCAA tournament in 2015 (Austin) as C-USA members, also appearing in 2012 (Berkeley, Calif.), 2010 (Austin) and 2002 (Austin) when UTSA was in the Southland Conference.
UTSA will open play against West Coast Conference Champion Pepperdine (18-8) on Saturday, May 6 at 10 a.m. at the Texas Tennis Center. Hosting the Regional is top-seeded Texas (22-3), which will face Southland Conference Champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (20-7) at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The winners of Saturday's opening round matches will square off on Sunday, May 7 at 1 p.m. for the opportunity to advance to the round of 16 Super Regionals on May 12-13. The final eight Super Regional winners will converge at the men's NCAA Championship, May 18-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. This is the first time the men's and women's championships for DI, DII and DIII will be at a single site.
2023 NCAA Men's Tennis First and Second-Round Schedule (Austin, Texas)
All times Central
Saturday, May 6 – First Round
10 a.m.: UTSA vs. Pepperdine
1 p.m.: TEXAS vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sunday, May 7 – Second Round
1 p.m.: UTSA/Pepperdine winner vs. TEXAS/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi winner
Fan Information
Tickets
Admission for all matches during the NCAA First and Second Rounds at the Texas Tennis Center will be free.
Parking
Paid parking is available in the East Campus Garage.
Clear Bag Policy
The Texas Tennis Center is a clear bag facility. For full information, visit TexasSports.com/Clearbag.
Inclement Weather
In the case of inclement weather, matches will be moved indoors to the Edgar O. & Melanie A. Weller Tennis Center at the University of Texas Golf Club. Fans will be permitted to attend matches that are moved indoors.
Live Coverage
Both live streaming video and live results will be provided for each match of the Regional. Links will be added to the UTSA schedule when information becomes available.
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