INDIANAPOLIS -- The Augustana women's tennis team was ranked third in the first NCAA Women's Tennis Central Region rankings released on Wednesday. The 10-time Northern Sun Conference regular season champs own a 19-2 record and a 17-1 mark against regional competition.

With the Vikings claiming their ninth straight NSIC Women's Tennis Tournament Championship this past weekend, have already secured an automatic qualification for the regional tournament on May 13-14. Augustana is the only NSIC team to be ranked in the top eight in the initial rankings. 

The NCAA Central Region is comprised of the 29 teams from the NSIC (12), Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) (10), and the Great American Conference (GAC) (7). The postseason tournament winner from each conference receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament and will be joined by the next three highest ranked teams in the final rankings. Two teams from each of the eight regions will advance to the final site, which will be played May 22-25 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The NCAA women's tennis selections will be announced on Tuesday, May 7 on www.NCAA.com.


NCAA Central Region Rankings

RK	Team (Conf)	DII Rec	In-Region
1	Washburn (MIAA)	19-0	19-0
2	Central Oklahoma (MIAA)	14-1	13-1
3	Augustana (NSIC)	19-2	17-1
4	Southern Arkansas (GAC)	21-3	15-2
5	Northwest Missouri State (MIAA)	16-5	14-5
6	Southwest Baptist (MIAA)	9-6	7-4
7	Harding (GAC)	10-5	10-5
8	Arkansas Tech (GAC)	9-5	8-4