NCAC Tournament Central | Women's Bracket
This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster women's tennis team travels to Denison University as the No. 4 seed to partake in the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. Wooster (11-6, 3-3 NCAC), winners of their last two, will face fifth-seeded Oberlin College (8-9, 3-3 NCAC) at 1 p.m. Friday. The winning team advances to Saturday's semifinal, to face No. 1 seed Kenyon College.
Media Coverage: Fans can follow along via the women's tennis team's Twitter account @WooTennis and can visit WoosterAthletics.com for end-of-day recaps.
Schedule for New Look Tournament: With one less team in the conference, the tournament has shifted to a straight, single-elimination bracket. There are three quarterfinal matches on Friday with the No. 1 seeded Kenyon Owls advancing via a bye. The two semifinal matches start at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, while the Sunday championship takes place at 1 p.m. If moved indoors times change slightly. Most notably, Wooster's quarterfinal match will start at 4 p.m. Friday.
Looking Back at Wooster's Last Tournament Appearance: Wooster battled sickness and injuries, taking sixth in last year's tournament. They fell to DePauw 5-2 in the quarterfinal as the No. 3 seed and then took a 5-3 loss in the fifth-place match against Wittenberg University.
Last Meeting Versus Oberlin: The two teams met on March 31 where Oberlin escaped with a 5-4 victory. The Yeowomen forfeited three points with a limited roster but still pulled out the victory as Kim Nguyen gave Wooster its only playable victory in a 6-1, 6-1 decision at the No. 4 flight. Janaki Jagannathan played a tight match, falling in three sets, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (5), at the No. 2 flight, while Charitha Patlolla's comeback at the No. 3 flight fell short, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Battle For Third: There was a three-way tied for third place this year. While Wooster and Oberlin each finished 3-3 in the NCAC this year, so did Wittenberg, who won the advantage and took the No. 3 seed into this year's tournament. In Wooster's last match out, they defeated Wittenberg 5-4, but the tie breaker played in favor of Wittenberg after looking at the number of individual matches won/lost in conference play. In addition, Wooster's third place finish in conference was its best since 1988. Wooster also collected its fourth-straight non-COVID-impacted double-digit win season at 11.
Regionally Ranked Again: Last year, Wooster entered the regional rankings for the first time since 2018. This year they did it again, entering at 12th. Friday will be a battle of regionally ranked teams as Oberlin enters at 13th and Wooster 15th.
Other Notables: Earlier this year head coach Amy Behrman achieved her 100th collegiate win … Oberlin head coach Lori Shulman helmed the Wooster program for six years from 2005-2010 … Katie Materick needs two doubles wins to reach 37 for her career, which would throw her into a tie for 10th all-time in program history.