Regional Rankings
 
INDIANAPOLIS – The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team remained locked in at third place in the latest batch of NCAA Atlantic Region rankings released Wednesday by the DII Women's Tennis Committee.
 
The NCAA regional rankings determine the participants for the NCAA Tournament. The Atlantic Region consists of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), the Mountain East Conference (MEC), the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and select independent institutions within the region's borders.
 
All three conference tournament champions receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament with the next four highest ranked teams in the final regional rankings receiving at-large bids. Updated regional rankings will be released every Wednesday until the conclusion of the season.
 
The official release of the 48-team field for the 2024 NCAA Tournament will be announced 8:30 p.m. May 6 on NCAA.com.
 
There are multiple factors taken into consideration to determine the playoff fields, including in-region winning percentage, winning percentage against Division II opponents, in-division strength of schedule and in-region strength of schedule. A detailed breakdown of all factors can be found HERE.
 
There was very little movement in latest set of regional rankings compared to a week ago. The top four spots were identical to the previous rankings with Charleston tabbed No. 1 followed by Indiana (Pa.), The Rock and Mercyhurst.
 
Fairmont State climbed from seventh to fifth place with Millersville, West Virginia Wesleyan, Frostburg State and Shaw making up the reminder of the rankings.
 
Only results through April 28 were considered in this week's rankings.
 
Slippery Rock maintained its third-place position thanks to an overall Division II record of 11-4 and an in-region mark of 9-2 - The Rock's PSAC quarterfinal victory over Mercyhurst that was held Monday will be factored into next week's final rankings.
 
SRU is 3-2 against teams in this week's Atlantic Region rankings courtesy of a 2-0 showing against Mercyhurst as well as a win versus Frostburg State with the only two setbacks coming to Charleston and IUP – the top two teams in the region.
 
No stranger to the postseason, Slippery Rock has qualified for the NCAA Tournament 19 times dating back to the 1995-96 season. More recently, SRU has earned a spot in the national tournament in each of the last five years the event has been held.
 
Winners of seven straight matches, Slippery Rock will meet Millersville in the semifinal round of the 2024 PSAC Tournament 1 p.m. Friday at the Burt Reese Tennis Center on the campus of Bloomsburg University.
 
If victorious against the Marauders, SRU would square off against the winner of the other semifinal match - either Indiana (Pa.) or West Chester - 1 p.m. Saturday in the finals with a conference tournament championship and the accompanying automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament at stake.


 

NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS – April 28
RANK	SCHOOL	DII W-L	REGION W-L
1	Charleston	15-4	12-0
2	Indiana	12-5	11-1
3	Slippery Rock	11-4	9-2
4	Mercyhurst	15-2	14-2
5	Fairmont State	10-7	10-6
6	Millersville	12-7	12-5
7	WV Wesleyan	14-7	13-7
8	Frostburg State	10-6	9-6
9	Shaw	13-3	13-3

To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on 'X' (formerly Twitter, @Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).