UNCA doubles team seeded for NCAA Tennis Championships
WLOS — ORLANDO, Fla. – A historic season for Oli Nolan and Henry Patten will continue at the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Doubles Championship.
The national championship-winning doubles duo are seeded fourth at the championship that will be conducted May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., after the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 16- 19. UCF and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission will serve as hosts.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10- point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.
Automatic qualification into the Division I doubles championship is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible doubles teams ranked in the ITA Top 60 for eligible/entered doubles teams.
The No. 4 national seed at the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Doubles Championship marks the first national seed in the history of Big South men's tennis. The Bulldog duo are just the second doubles pairing in the history of the league to earn a spot in the NCAA Doubles Championship according to conference records.
Nolan and Patten are currently ranked second nationally in the latest Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. The duo was ranked No. 1 nationally for three consecutive polls early in the spring semester.
The duo was undefeated during the 2018-19 regular season. The doubles pairing went undefeated playing together during the fall and won three titles including the national championship victory at the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.
Nolan and Patten were a perfect 7-0 this spring en route to earning first-team all-league accolades. Patten was named the Big South Men's Tennis Player of the Year for the third straight year, while also being named the All-Academic Team for the third consecutive year. Nolan was also named to the All-Big South team in singles as well as doubles.
Patten will be participating in the NCAA Championships for the second straight year.
Patten last year became just the second player in Big South history to advance to the second round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Singles Championship with a thrilling 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Alex Lebedev of Notre Dame on May 23.
The win was the first win for the UNC Asheville men's tennis program in the NCAA Men's Tennis Singles Championship.
As a team, UNC Asheville men's tennis finished the 2019 spring campaign with an impressive 20-5 overall record. The Bulldogs were a perfect 10-0 in matches played at home at the Asheville Racquet Club Downtown. UNC Asheville's 20 wins this past season was a program record.
by Stan Pamfilis