BURNSVILLE, Minn. - The Minnesota State University Moorhead tennis team qualified as the sixth and final team of the Northern Sun Conference Tournament as the brackets were announced Monday. The Dragons, 6-10 and 5-5 in the NSIC, will face Upper Iowa on Saturday, April 21 in Minnetonka, Minn.
The NSIC announced the women's tennis bracket early Monday morning that included the top six teams in the conference. MSUM was number six. The Dragons will be taking part in the opening round against No. 3 seed Upper Iowa on April 21 at Lifetime Fitness Oakdale (Village Tennis) in Minnetonka, Minn. Matches begin at 1:30 p.m. The two met earlier in the season on March 4, with UIU sweeping MSUM, 9-0.
The four other NSIC teams to make the tournament included No. 1 seed Augustana, No. 2 seed Winona State, No. 4 seed Minnesota State Mankato and No. 5 seed St. Cloud State. Augie and Winona State earned first round byes while the remaining two will face off on Saturday at 11 a.m. The MSUM/UIU winner will take on Winona State at 6:30 p.m. on the same day while the MSU/SCSU winner will face Augie at 4 p.m. The NSIC Championship will be played on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
The conference champions earn an automatic qualification to the 2012 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Central Regional Tournament. First and Second Rounds are first week in May at a location to be determined (on campus). The finals are May 16-19, 2012 at Top Gun Tennis Academy and Springhurst Tennis Club, and E.P. Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.
The Dragons needed a win Saturday afternoon to continue their season in the NSIC postseason tournament. Needless to say, an 8-1 victory over the then sixth-placed Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs showed the Dragons' determination to reach that point. Gary Harris and the MSUM women finished their season by winning four of the last five matches against NSIC opponents.
FULL NSIC RELEASE
NSIC Women's Tennis Tournament
