April 28, 2004
Men's Tennis Earns Bid to NCAA Tournament
The Truman men's tennis team will be making its first trip to the NCAA Division II tournament since 2001 when they travel to Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar for a first-round game on Friday, May 7. The Bulldogs were the eighth seed and will face No. 1 seed SBU.
SBU beat Truman 5-0 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association tournament last weekend.
The winner of the first-round NCAA match between Truman and SBU will face Colorado State, Pueblo or Nebraska-Kearney in the second round on Saturday.
The Truman men have made a total of 16 appearances in the NCAA tournament, and made two straight appearances in 2000 and 2001, but lost in the first round both times. In 1968, the men advanced to the final four before bowing out.
The 'Dogs completed the regular season with an 8-7 dual record.
No. 2 singles player, senior Ben Smith (Fort Collins, Colo/Rocky Mountain), is the only member of the team to be making a repeat trip to the NCAA tourney. He played in the No. 6 singles spot for Truman in 2001, but his NCAA match was unfinished. The only senior on the squad, Smith has a career record of 64-84 in singles play and is 49-42 in doubles play since joining the team in 2001.
Tyler Wood has played in the No. 1 spot all season and is 10-18 heading into the NCAA meet.
No. 3 singles player Brad Martin is 15-12 this year, while Sean Cooper is 15-7 in the No. 4 position.
The No. 5 slot has been filled by Ryan Cope who has the most wins on the team with an 18-6 record.
Niklas Stubbendorff rounds out the top six singles players and is 11-15 this season.
Wood and Cope have combined to go 9-5 at the No. 1 doubles spots, and Smith and Cooper are 12-9 at No. 2 doubles.
Martin and Steve Jones are 8-5 at No. 3 doubles.