All eyes are on the Emory University men’s and women’s teams to defend as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) kicks off its 2022 Division III Tennis Championships on Thursday.
After claiming both the men’s and women’s titles last year, the Atlanta-based college now seeks its ninth women’s and seventh men’s tournament wins.
It’s an especially difficult year for Emory to score another title with either team, regardless of current talent or recent history. The 2022 men's team is again led by John Browning, who’s served as a coach since 1999 and guided the school to all six of its championship victories. While Emory has won three of the last four competitions (2017, 2019, and 2021), the 2020 edition was canceled outright due to the pandemic, and the 2021 tournament saw a reduced field.
“This whole year and a half, there’s been obstacles left and right,” Browning said after Emory’s championship win last year, referencing the pandemic. “You can be fresher, you can get past it and move on.”
The bracket also presents Emory with tough opponents, including Mary Washington in the second round – its first match – on Saturday. Should the team win, it’ll face another potential spoiler in Trinity (Texas).
Meanwhile, the Emory women’s team could see a third-round challenge with 2021 quarterfinalist Sewanee. It could also potentially find a quarterfinal rematch with last year’s runner-up, Wesleyan – which won the title in 2019.
Preliminary rounds begin Thursday, May 12 at regional sites and go through Sunday. The team championship finals will be held the following weekend, May 23 through 25, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. The singles and doubles championships will be held May 27-29, also at the USTA National Campus.
The men’s bracket is available here, while the women’s can be found here. Check out the tournament homepage, here.
