MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Defending league champion Concordia University Wisconsin has been named the overwhelming favorite to capture the 2023 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) women's tennis crown according to the annual preseason poll released Friday.
Concordia Wisconsin secured 197 points and 17 of 20 first-place tallies in the poll, which consists of votes from the league's head women's tennis coaches and athletics communications professionals. The Falcons were 16-7 overall and a perfect 8-0 in league play, edging four-time defending champion Edgewood College, 5-4, in the schools' regular-season meeting.
CUW also won the 2023 NACC Tournament, topping Edgewood in the final by a 5-3 score. The Falcons fell to Carleton, 5-0, in an NCAA championship first-round match.
Edgewood sits second in this year's poll with 176 points and the three remaining first-place votes. Wisconsin Lutheran College is third with 148 points, just ahead of St. Norbert College (132) and Milwaukee School of Engineering (122).
Illinois Institute of Technology edged Lakeland University, 95-91, for sixth place, while Marian University finished just one marker ahead of Concordia University Chicago (58-57). Alverno College (24) rounds out this year's poll.
New Coaches: There is one new coach in the NACC this season as Rylee Orr steps in at Marian. Orr, who is also a coach with the Sabres' men's NCAA ice hockey program, joined the Marian staff in 2022 after four seasons as the head coach of the AHCA Division II program at the University of Oregon.
Fall 2023 Schedule: Illinois Tech is the first program to get underway, participating in tomorrow's (Saturday, Aug. 26) North Central (Ill.) Invitational against Loras and host North Central.
Concordia Chicago, Concordia Wisconsin, Edgewood, MSOE, St. Norbert, and Wisconsin Lutheran are up next with nonconference matches on Friday, Sept. 1, while Lakeland and Marian follow with their openers on Saturday, Sept. 2. Alverno will be the final NACC program to open its regular season when it hosts Edgewood on Friday, Sept. 8.
The first conference matches will be held Wednesday, Sept. 6 as Marian hosts Edgewood and Lakeland hosts Wisconsin Lutheran. Alverno hosts Edgewood and CUW travels to St. Norbert on Friday, Sept. 8 before the first full slate of conference matches take place the following day (Saturday, Sept. 9).
NACC Tournament: The round-robin portion of the NACC slate is slated to conclude on Saturday, Oct. 14, with the top six programs in the final Fall 2023 standings advancing to next spring's NACC Women's Tennis Tournament. The tournament champion will receive the NACC's automatic berth in the 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
2023 NACC Women's Tennis Preseason Poll
| Institution |
Points |
| Concordia Wisconsin (17) |
197 |
| Edgewood (3) |
176 |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
148 |
| St. Norbert |
132 |
| MSOE |
122 |
| Illinois Tech |
95 |
| Lakeland |
91 |
| Marian |
58 |
| Concordia Chicago |
57 |
| Alverno |
24 |
Note: First-place votes in parentheses