GAMBIER, Ohio -- The Kenyon College Owls will make their way to Washington University in St. Louis this weekend for the opening rounds of the 2025 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship. The Owls booked a trip to the national team tournament for the third straight season by winning the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), and Kenyon's appearance marks the 25th time the program has progressed into the NCAA postseason.

Though the Owls know where they are headed and when they will play, the team has to wait to see who they will play as Kenyon secured a first-round bye, one of 15 in the 49-team bracket. The Owls will await the winner of the first-round matchup between the Sewanee Tigers and the Transylvania University Pioneers, who Kenyon will then play the next day, Saturday, May 10.

The Owls punched their NCAA Tournament ticket by claiming the NCAC's automatic berth following a third straight NCAC Tournament Championship. Kenyon hosted the conference finale after winning the regular-season NCAC Championship, and the Owls defended their home courts with a pair of 4-0 sweeps over Oberlin College in the tournament semifinal and then No. 26-ranked Denison University in the championship match. Kenyon enters the NCAA field with a 15-6 overall record and checks in at No. 26 in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) NCAA Division III standings.

Should Sewanee survive and advance to the second-round matchup against Kenyon, it would mark the second straight season that the teams see each other in the second round. Last season, the Owls battled the Tigers to the bitter end, but ultimately fell 5-4 to end Kenyon's time in the tournament. Sewanee went on to lose 5-0 to WashU in the next round.

This season, Sewanee secured a spot in the dance by winning the Southern Athletic Association Championship. The Tigers are 15-5 heading into their dual against Transylvania, and Sewanee is ranked one spot ahead of Kenyon at No. 25 in the ITA standings. Ansley Carpenter is 7-8 in the No. 1 singles spot, while Sarah Livingston leads the team with 13 singles wins, including a 12-3 mark at No. 2. In doubles, the duo of Carpenter and Brooke Despriet leads the team with a 10-1 record, all at the top flight.

Transylvania's trip to the tournament comes after winning the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championship. The Pioneers have played to a 9-7 overall record this season and are unranked in the ITA standings. Though no statistics are available for their women's tennis team, Transy is led by HCAC Player of the Year Katherine Taylor, who also pairs with Maria Hayes in the No. 1 doubles spot. Last season, Transylvania won its first-round NCAA matchup against Penn State Harrisburg 5-3 before falling 5-0 to Claremont-Mudd Scripps College.

Since the 1984-85 season, Kenyon is 9-8 against Sewanee and has not lined up against Transylvania. The Owls are led by Eleni Lazaridou, who recently claimed her third straight sweep as both NCAC Player of the Year and as part of the NCAC Doubles Team of the Year. Lazaridou, the ITA's No. 12-ranked DIII singles player, is 14-2 in singles this season, all at No. 1. First-year Hana Nouaime is the other half of the NCAC's top doubles duo, which is ranked No. 21 in the ITA rankings, and the pair has posted a 15-3 record this season. Fellow first-year Clare Hudson leads the Owls with 18 overall singles wins, including a 16-3 mark in duals. 

The winners of Saturday's second-round matchups will square off on Sunday, May 11, to fight for a spot in the quarterfinals. On the other side of Kenyon's bracket, Grinnell College and The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will play in Friday's first round. Grinnell won the Midwest Conference Tournament to secure an automatic bid, and the Pioneers are ranked No. 41 in the ITA standings with an 18-9 record. No. 55-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's automatic bid, and the Warhawks will head into the NCAA Tournament with a 14-8 record. WashU awaits the first-round winner, and the Bears enter the postseason as the No. 9-ranked team in the ITA standings. WashU got into the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid, and the regional hosts are 13-7 so far this season.