A little more than a month after the University of Maryland-Baltimore County?s women?s basketball team won its first America East Conference title, the school?s men?s tennis team followed suit.
UMBC qualified Sunday for its first NCAA tournament in four years when it defeated Stony Brook, 4-1, in the America East final. The Retrievers qualified for the NCAAs each year between 2000 and 2003 while a part of the Northeast Conference.
“This team has worked so hard since the first day of the season, and I?m happy to see them achieve the goal they set out for from the beginning,” said UMBC coach Keith Puryear, who is in his 18th year at the school.
UMBC (15-5-1) will take on 15th-ranked Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament May 11 in Durham, N.C. Duke (15-9) received an at-large bid after getting upset by Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinals. The Blue Devils have a local connection on their roster ? Calvert Hall graduate Joey Atas, who is 95-53 in his career, including a 57-23 mark at Ohio State in 2003-05.
UMBC junior David Jackson, an Eldersburg native and Liberty High graduate, said finding out his team had drawn Duke was an exciting moment. He?s looking forward to the challenge of pulling off an upset.
“We knew going into the America East tournament that we had the best team,” said Jackson, who was named the tournament MVP. “But we also knew we had to go out there and prove it on the court, because too many times teams with the best record don?t finish the job when they have to.”
Navy also qualified for the NCAA tournament by shutting out Bucknell and Army en route to winning the Patriot League tournament title, its first in eight years. The Midshipmen (15-10) will play a first-round match May 11 at the 11th-ranked Texas. The Longhorns (18-8) received an at-large bid after losing to No. 4 Baylor in the Big 12 championship.
COLLEGE TENNIS NOTES
» Johns Hopkins? men and women?s tennis teams both qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament after winning their respective Centennial Conference tournaments. The men (17-2) will travel to Mary Washington to face Messiah (15-4) on Friday. The winner will face Washington & Lee in the second round on Saturday.
» Johns Hopkins women?s team (16-3) will travel to Washington & Lee to face Moravian (14-3) in the first round Friday. The winner will take on Mary Washington in the second round Saturday.
