Panthers Seventh In Women’s Regional Tennis Rankings
By Space Coast Daily // April 5, 2013
FIT Hosts Florida Southern On April 10
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – The 20th-ranked Florida Tech Panthers came in at No. 7 in the first NCAA South Region rankings on Thursday.
The top eight teams in the South Region advance to the NCAA Tournament, which begins April 28 with the regional brackets.
“We are in a good position in the first rankings, but it is all going to depend on how we finish,” head coach Bill Macom said. “We have [No. 26] Florida Southern and the SSC Championship remaining. We need to win our final match and go at least 2-1 at the conference tournament to move up in the rankings to better our chances for the national tournament.”
Seven of the top eight teams in the first South Region rankings belong to the Sunshine State Conference. Barry holds the top spot, while Saint Leo and Lynn came in at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. The Gulf South Conference’s West Florida entered the regional rankings at No. 4. Filling out the next four spots in order were Rollins, Tampa, Florida Tech and Florida Southern.
Valdosta State and West Alabama were placed at No. 9 and No. 10, while no team from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference made the first rankings. The SIAC gets an automatic bid, leaving seven spots available for the NCAA South Regional.
Florida Tech will finish its regular season with a home match against No. 26 Florida Southern on Wednesday, April 10 at the Fee Avenue Courts. The Panthers will then compete at the SSC Tennis Championship in Boca Raton from April 18-20.
The final two regional rankings will be released on April 10 and 17.
