Women's Tennis Makes History with NAIA Tournament Seed

KANSAS CITY, Mo.- For the sixth season in a row, the women's tennis team is heading to the national tournament. The team earned an automatic bid to the 45th Annual UTR Sports NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship Tournament, set for May 12-16 at the Mobile Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala.,  as a result of winning the 2026 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament Title. This time, though, the program made history with the seed they received. 

This is the seventh time in program history the team will appear at the NAIA National Tournament.

Tennessee Wesleyan earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament, the highest seed in the NAIA National Tournament in program history. The top eight teams in the field get a bye to the first round, meaning the Lady Bulldogs will not play until Wednesday, May 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET.  The team is set to face the winner of No. 14 seed Goshen College (15-7 overall, 8-1 Crossroads League, at-large bid) and No. 19 Holy Cross University (Ind.) (8-5 overall, 3-0 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, Tournament Champion).

The team enters the national tournament with an 18-1 overall record and an 8-0 AAC record. TWU is one of two teams from the AAC to qualify for the tournament. The Lady Bulldogs are 6-1 against teams in the field.  

The field consists of 24 teams, 13 automatic bids and 11 at-large bids. Automatic qualifications are granted to conference tournament champions, while at-large teams were determined by the NAIA Tennis National Selection Committee. The NSC consists of coaches and administrators from around the country. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria. 

The entire bracket can be seen below.