2019 NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship Qualifiers Released
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 24-team field for the 39th Annual NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship. For the 16th-consecutuve year, the event will be held at the Mobile Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala., from May 14-18. The official championship seeds and bracket will be announced Tuesday by 1 p.m. CDT.
The field consists of 14 automatic berths including one host berth and 10 at-large selections. Automatic qualification is given to conference and unaffiliated grouping tournament champions and runners-up, depending on the conference. For the third year, at-large teams were determined by the NAIA Tennis National Selection Committee (NSC). The NSC consists of one representative from each geographic area, a representative from the National Administrative Council (NAC) Rules and Ratings Committee, the president of the Tennis Coaches Association and two at-large members. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria. Mobile (Ala.) received the host berth.
Defending four-time national champions Georgia Gwinnett will look to claim another national title in 2019. The Grizzlies are 19-1 all-time at the national championships.
Indiana Wesleyan leads all qualifiers in its 20th appearance in 2019. There are seven other programs in the 2019 field with more than 10 appearances – Brenau (Ga.) (18), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and SCAD Savannah (Ga.) (15), Keiser (Fla.) and Mobile (Ala.) (14) and Westmont (Calif.) and Xavier (La.) will be making their 12th appearance.
The Mid-South Conference and the Southern States Athletic Conference are tied for the most teams to qualify out of their conference with four teams apiece. The Appalachian Athletic Conference was next on the list with three teams.
Keiser (Fla.) (formerly Northwood), Brenau (Ga.), and Georgia Gwinnett are the only teams in the field with a national championship to their credit.
Twenty teams are returning to the national championship from 2018. Loyola (La.) is the lone team to be making its first appearance in the national championship field. The Wolf Pack enter with an overall record of 11-9 with an at-large berth.
For more information on the 2019 NAIA Women’s Tennis National Championship, click HERE!
| Institution | Qualification Method | 2019 Record | Appearances | Last Time | NC Record | Titles |
| Asbury (Ky.) | River States Tournament Champion | 12-4 | 4 | 2018 | 0-3 | 0 |
| Brenau (Ga.) | Appalachian Tournament Champion | 12-6 | 18 | 2018 | 27-16 | 1 |
| Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) | Chicagoland Tournament Champion | 13-6 | 6 | 2018 | 5-5 | 0 |
| Cumberland (Tenn.) | At-Large | 11-7 | 6 | 2018 | 3-5 | 0 |
| Cumberlands (Ky.) | At-Large | 10-6 | 3 | 2018 | 1-2 | 0 |
| Georgetown (Ky.) | At-Large | 16-5 | 5 | 2017 | 0-4 | 0 |
| Georgia Gwinnett | At-Large | 16-1 | 6 | 2018 | 19-1 | 4 |
| Hastings (Neb.) | Great Plains Tournament Champion | 13-4 | 4 | 2018 | 0-3 | 0 |
| Indiana Wesleyan | Crossroads Tournament Champion | 30-6 | 20 | 2018 | 15-19 | 0 |
| Keiser (Fla.) | The Sun Tournament Champion | 18-4 | 14 | 2018 | 21-12 | 1 |
| Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | Mid-South Tournament Champion | 10-5 | 15 | 2018 | 27-14 | 0 |
| Loyola (La.) | At-Large | 11-9 | 1 | N/A | 0-0 | 0 |
| LSU Alexandria (La.) | Red River/Sooner Tournament Champion | 7-4 | 5 | 2018 | 5-4 | 0 |
| McPherson (Kan.) | Kansas Collegiate Tournament Champion | 10-6 | 5 | 2017 | 0-4 | 0 |
| Middle Georgia State | At-Large | 11-5 | 3 | 2018 | 2-2 | 0 |
| Mobile (Ala.) | Host Berth | 9-7 | 14 | 2018 | 3-13 | 0 |
| Northwestern Ohio | Wolverine-Hoosier Tournament Champion | 8-14 | 6 | 2017 | 2-5 | 0 |
| SCAD Atlanta (Ga.) | At-Large | 10-8 | 5 | 2018 | 3-4 | 0 |
| SCAD Savannah (Ga.) | At-Large | 11-3 | 15 | 2018 | 15-14 | 0 |
| Union (Ky.) | At-Large | 12-4 | 5 | 2018 | 2-4 | 0 |
| Westmont (Calif.) | Golden State Tournament Champion | 19-5 | 12 | 2018 | 4-11 | 0 |
| William Carey (Miss.) | Southern States Tournament Champion | 13-2 | 8 | 2018 | 7-7 | 0 |
| William Woods (Mo.) | American Midwest/Heat of America Tournament Champion | 16-5 | 4 | 2018 | 7-3 | 0 |
| Xavier (La.) | At-Large | 17-5 | 12 | 2018 | 10-11 | 0 |
