National Team, Singles & Doubles Championships 2015 in College Tennis

Exciting days ahead before college tennis sends off the majority of its graduating senior athletes into entry jobs, graduate programs, or professional tennis and their freshmen, sophomore, and junior athletes into the summer break.

5 different divisions and thus plenty of different tournaments make this an exciting time with a loss equaling the teams' end of the season. The elite players of each division are invited to compete in singles and doubles competition, battling to determine their champions as well. Let's take a look at the differences across the tournaments:

NCAA D-I

For extensive event information click here.

• Participants
  Team: 31 (men's) and 32 (women's) conference champions were invited as automatic qualifiers. The remaining teams to make up the draw of 64 teams were selected according to criteria, such as win-loss record, strength of the season schedule, or wins against qualified teams.
  Singles & doubles: Automatic qualifiers come from the conferences with most players/doubles teams ranked in the ITA Top 125/Top 60. The remaining participants are selected according to the same criteria above.
• Final championship rounds
  Team: The tournament started out with 64 qualified teams battling out the first two rounds at different host sites. The remaining 16 teams in the National Championship have completed the round of 16 yesterday (May 14) at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, TX, home of ITA #2 ranked Baylor University.
  Singles & doubles: The individual events will be conducted following the team championships at Baylor University next week in 64-draws (singles) and 32-draws (doubles).
• Live coverage
  Full live video coverage and live scoring can be found online here for free!

NCAA D-II

For tournament information click here.

• Participants
  Team: 17 (men's) and 19 (women's) conference champions were invited as automatic qualifiers. The remaining teams to make up the draw of 48 teams were selected according to criteria, such as win-loss record, strength of the season schedule, or wins against qualified teams.
  Singles & doubles: There are neither singles nor doubles championships conducted in the NCAA D-II in 2015.
• Final championship rounds
  Team: The remaining 16 teams in the National Championship have started their dual matches on May 13 in Surprise, AZ. The finals are scheduled for Saturday May 16, essentially terminating the NCAA Division II season, as there will be no singles or doubles events.
• Video coverage
  The team tournaments have ended.

NCAA D-III

For tournament information and live scoring click here.

• Participants
  Team: 34 (men's) and 40 (women's) conference champions were invited as automatic qualifiers. The remaining teams to make up the draw of 43 (men's) and 49 (women's) teams were selected teams from the same conferences according to criteria, such as win-loss record, strength of the season schedule, or wins against qualified teams. In addition, teams from conferences with no automatic qualifier were invited.
  Singles & doubles: Participants were selected based on criteria, such as win-loss record or strength of schedule of the players. Each of the four NCAA D-III regions sent 8 singles players and 4 doubles teams.
• Final championship rounds
  Team: Rounds 1-3 were played prior to the team championships finals, which start with the quarterfinals on May 18 in Mason, OH.
  Singles & doubles: The individual events will be conducted following the team championships in 32-draws (singles) and 16-draws (doubles).
• Live coverage
  Live video coverage can be found online here for free!

NAIA

For tournament information click here.

• Participants
  Team: 14 conference champions are invited as automatic qualifiers. The remaining teams to make up the draw of 24 teams were selected according to the final Coaches' Top 25 poll criteria and one host berth.
  Singles & doubles: There are neither NAIA singles nor doubles championships in 2015.
• Final championship rounds
  Team: The 24 teams in the National Championship have started their dual matches on May 12 in Mobile, AL. The finals are scheduled for Saturday May 16, essentially terminating the NAIA playing season, as there will be no singles or doubles events.
  It's going well for Georgia Gwinnett and Auburn Montgomery with both of them having their men's and women's teams in the semifinals and still in the race for the titles.
• Live coverage
  There should be video coverage of the final rounds according to the NAIA, but at the time of writing the free stream was not up and running.

NJCAA

For full tournament information (Divisions I and III) click here (men's) and here (women's).

• Championship format
  The NJCAA championship finals work different than the other four divisions. The players competing on the #1-singles spot play a "flight 1" tournament, so do the #2 players, #3 players, and all the way to #6. The same is the case for doubles play with #1-doubles teams, #2 teams, and #3 teams. For each singles and doubles win, the players collect points for their college team. Besides the main draws, there are consolation draws offering the potential to continue collecting team points. While there will be team champions, all players or doubles team play their separate tournaments. Twice the motivation so to say :-)
• Final championship rounds
  Women's national championships are completed with a dominant victory by ASA College (NY) and their men's team is about to do the same.
• Live coverage
  Live scoring was well-maintained here and offers a good idea of how the championships are conducted.

Make sure to check out some of the live action of the top-matches, which are being broadcast right now, such as NCAA Division I play here!

Are you a young tennis player, and competing at national championships one day sounds just like what you are looking for? Create a free recruiting profile on Smarthlete, get in touch with coaches, and take a step in the right direction.