FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas women's tennis team was not selected for the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday, nine days after the Razorbacks played six times to earn minimum eligibility for the postseason.
Arkansas (16-16) was passed over for an at-large bid by 12 teams that ranked below it in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national rankings. Ten SEC teams made the tournament as an at-large selection and Vanderbilt earned the conference's automatic bid.
The Razorbacks jumped from outside the top 50 to No. 29 in the final ITA rankings by virtue of advancing to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and winning six times at Tennessee State on April 22.
The decision to play 14 hours worth of matches against Tennessee State received national attention after the website Deadspin.com published a critical article about it the following day. Arkansas had to win six times on the final day of the regular season to improve its winning percentage to .500, the minimum standard to obtain an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee State (13-16) received $15,000 to play the matches, according to The Tennesseean.
Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek said he supported the team's decision in an interview last Wednesday, stating he was opposed to the idea until the team took a vote in favor of playing so many matches. Spokespersons for the ITA, the governing body for college tennis, had no comment on the Razorbacks' situation last week when reached by telephone.