Tennis Teams Await NCAA Fate

Harvard’s tennis teams learn their playoff fates today with the announcements of the 64-team NCAA men’s and women’s tournament brackets. While the men look to host a regional at the Beren Tennis Center for the first rounds, on May 10-12, the women hope to find a way into the tournament. The brackets will be unveiled during selection shows streamed live over the internet at www.ncaachampionships.com.

The men’s team plans on watching the show from the Beren Tennis Center. “Last year we had plans [to watch the selection show], but we had trouble getting the internet feed,” assistant men’s coach Peter Mandeau said.

Unlike the men’s basketball tournament, the NCAA uses a very objective process to seed the men’s and women’s tennis tournaments. The tournament selection committee determines the top 16 seeds. The committee makes sure to place only one of the top 16 seeds in each of the 16 regionals, avoiding any possible first round conference matchups.

The committee then selects the 48 remaining at-large teams, and finally, the committee seeds the four teams in each region. An important caveat to the seeding procedures is that at least one team from each of the eight regions hosts a regional.

In response to the travel fears caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the NCAA modified its seeding procedures to include travel cost considerations. This year, the committee is trying to limit the travel distance for each team to under 400 miles.

Seedings are determined by a mechanistic process. Teams are seeded Nos. 1-32 nationally, and teams Nos. 1-4 are paired with any one of 29-32 based on location, 5-8 with 25-28, then one team from 33-48 and one team from 49-64 are assigned to the 16 regionals based solely on location.

Ranked No. 33 in the country, the Crimson is on the border of getting a No. 2 seed. It also has a good chance at hosting one of the regionals. Harvard is the highest ranked team in Region 1 (the Northeast), and only Virgina Tech, ranked No. 39 and Brown at No. 46 should make the tournament from the Crimson’s region.

“It’s good to have a supportive hometown crowd,” Mandeau said. “But there are a lot more distractions.”

If Harvard ends up hosting, it would be likely that a 1-16 seed would be brought into the Crimson’s regional and Harvard would likely end up as a two or three seed. With the SEC and PAC-10 so deep, it is likely the number one seed in the Crimson’s region will come from one of those conferences.

“We’re not scared of the challenge of playing [an SEC or Pac 10 team],” men’s co-captain Dalibor Synder said. “We’d look forward to playing a team we’ve played before.”

Harvard’s year-and-a-half-old outdoor courts could prove decisive over the tournament weekend.

“Our home courts are so windy it makes it harder for our opponents to play,” Synder said. “We’re used to it. Wind is the great equalizer.”

Last year, Harvard hosted one of the regionals, but fell 4-0 to Notre Dame in the first round. Notre Dame would go on to lose to the University of Washington in the regional final.

“We were too keyed up,” Mandeau said. “We learned not to treat the NCAA tournament as the be all and end all of our season.”

For the women’s team, tomorrow’s announcements will end an anxious period of uncertainty. Ranked No. 57, the Harvard women are perched atop the proverbial bubble. Since 30 conferences have automatic bids into the tournament, the Crimson has at most an outside shot at making the tournament.

“Our chances of making the tournament are really bad,” women’s captain Fleur Broughton said. “But we’re still hoping.”