2023 NCAA Championships Schedule Released; Stearns Reaches Second WTA Quarterfinal in Bogota; Evans Advances to Quarterfinals at Jackson $25K; UNC Defeats Shnaider-less NC State 4-0

photo courtesy USTA

The NCAA released the schedule for its 2023 tennis championships at the final site in Lake Nona Florida, which begin five weeks from today with the round of 16 for the Division II team championships (Division II does not have an individual tournament). Division III team quarterfinals begin Saturday May 13th, and Division I team quarterfinals start on Wednesday May 17th. For the full schedule, click here, but below are some key dates and times, with all matches at the USTA National Campus.

Monday May 15: Division II men's team final, 7 p.m.

Tuesday May 16: Division II women's team final, 6 p.m.; Division III men's team final, 6 p.m.

Wednesday May 17: Division III women's final, noon; Division I women's quarterfinals 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. 

Thursday May 18: Division III men's singles and doubles begin; Division I men's quarterfinals 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Friday May 19: Division III women's singles and doubles begin; Division I women's semifinals 5 p.m., followed by Division I men's semifinals

Saturday May 20: Collegiate Wheelchair final noon; Division I women's final 5 p.m., followed by Division I men's final.

Sunday May 21: Division III men's singles final 10 a.m., Division III men's doubles final noon

Monday May 22: Division III women's singles final 10 a.m., Division III women's doubles final noon; first round Division I singles 10 a.m.

Saturday May 27: Division I men's and women's singles and doubles finals 11 a.m.

This schedule means some very late nights are coming in Lake Nona, with no Division I team matches scheduled before 5 p.m.  It is also the first time since I began covering college tennis in 2005 that there will be a day of rest between the team finals and the individual championships. 

There has not been any announcement regarding broadcasting or streaming, with the How To Watch button on the National Campus website providing no information, so whether that is responsible for some of the scheduling remains to be seen.

Less than a year removed from her NCAA team and singles titles, former Texas Longhorn Peyton Stearns has reached her second WTA quarterfinal, at the WTA 250 in Bogota Colombia. Stearns will face Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia in the quarterfinals Friday, and with top seed Elise Mertens already out, the highest seed in her half is No. 4 Kamilla Rakhimova. Stearns is now up to 104 in the live rankings, meaning she has a good chance of making the main draw at Roland Garros late next month.

Seventeen-year-old Tatum Evans has advanced to her second quarterfinal of a $25K USTA Pro Circuit tournament with a win today at the $25,000 tournament in Jackson Mississippi. The wild card from Virginia defeated No. 3 seed and WTA 316 Daniela Vismane of Latvia 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to match her result at last fall's $25K in Austin Texas. She will play No. 7 seed Grace Min in Friday's quarterfinals. Other Americans advancing to the quarterfinals are Victoria Hu(Princeton), Makenna Jones(UNC) and No. 2 seed Whitney Osuigwe. 

NC State freshman Diana Shnaider lost her third round match at the Credit One Charleston Open today, falling to No. 12 seed Paula Badosa 6-1, 6-3. 

Shnaider missed this afternoon's match between No. 7 NC State and No. 1 North Carolina this evening in Chapel Hill, with the Tar Heels claiming a 4-0 victory that was a little closer than that would indicate. UNC took the doubles point with wins at lines 1 and 2, but NC State did pick up three first sets in singles, with Alana Smith at 1, Amelia Rajecki at 2 and Gina Dittman at 5 leading Fiona Crawley, Reese Brantmeier and Elizabeth Scotty, respectively. But the Wolfpack couldn't secure the second set in any of those, with all three going unfinished, while North Carolina closed out the three matches where they took first sets: Annika Yarlagadda at 6, Carson Tanguilig at 3 and, with the clinch, Abbey Forbes at 4. There was a lightning delay early in the second set, but the match was played entirely outdoors. (Correction: they played out the remaining three matches with North Carolina coming back to win all three).

North Carolina remains undefeated, with the Tar Heels now 25-0 ahead of their last two regular season matches on the season: Saturday hosting Wake Forest, and Friday April 14th hosting No. 6 Duke, who plays NC State Saturday, presumably with Shnaider back in the lineup.