FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
South Division highest remaining
seed to host 2018 GNAC Final
WINTHROP, Mass. – Ramapo College and Regis (Mass.) have topped their respective divisions in the 2018 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Preseason Poll, as voted upon by the league's head coaches. Ramapo received all eight first-place votes and 32 points in the GNAC South Division, while Regis received five of the eight first-place tallies and 29 points in the GNAC North Division.
Ramapo, which has captured five straight GNAC Championships and NCAA Tournament berths, swept Johnson & Wales University, 5-0 in last year's conference final before falling to Yeshiva, 5-3, at Amherst in the NCAAs.
Regis begins its first season of men's tennis in GNAC play this spring. The Pride have won the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Men's Tennis Championship every year since 2012, going an incredible 51-1 in NECC regular-season play during that six-year span.
Also in the North Division, JWU received two first-place votes and 25 points for second place, with Norwich University in third with 14 points and one first-place nod, and Suffolk University in fourth with 12 points overall.
Rutgers University-Newark received 21 points for the second spot in the South Division side of the preseason poll, followed by Rutgers University-Camden with 19 points and Albertus Magnus College with eight points.
The host of the GNAC Championship rotates annually by division. In 2018, the highest remaining seed from the South Division after the conference semifinals will host the final. The top-two from each division will qualify for the GNAC Semifinals on Saturday, April 28, with the championship scheduled for Saturday, May 5.
Eastern Nazarene College, which will join the GNAC as an associate member in men's tennis (as well as women's tennis) beginning next year, will be a member of the North Division in Spring 2019.
2018 GNAC Men's Tennis Preseason Poll
NORTH DIVISION
1. Regis (5) - 29
2. Johnson & Wales (2) - 25
3. Norwich (1) - 14
4. Suffolk - 12
SOUTH DIVISION
1. Ramapo (8) - 32
2. Rutgers-Newark - 21
3. Rutgers-Camden - 19
4. Albertus Magnus - 8
Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement.
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