May 23, 2017
2017 NCAA Men’s Singles Bracket 
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championships will get underway Wednesday with a University of Notre Dame men’s tennis player competing for the 12th straight year.
Josh Hagar, who graduated from the Mendoza College of Business this past Sunday, will make is NCAA tournament debut Wednesday, facing Northwestern’s Konrad Zieba in the first round.
WHAT: NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championship
WHO: Josh Hagar (’17)
WHERE: Dan Magill Tennis Center | Athens, Georgia
WHEN: May 24-29
FOLLOW: Championship Central | Stream/Stats
TWITTER: @NDMensTennis
NCAA Debut
Josh Hagar will make his NCAA Championship debut when he takes the court Wednesday in the national singles tournament. Though a veteran of the fall collegiate grand slams, this will be Hagar’s first time vying for a national title in either singles or doubles. The senior, currently ranked No. 51, rose as high as No. 27 in the rankings this season and can boast wins over seven ranked opponents. Of those seven, three were ranked in the top 30, including then-No. 3 Petros Chrysocos of Wake Forest.
Tournament Overview
The NCAA individual championships will be played as best-of-three sets for both singles and doubles. No-ad scoring will be used and a seven-point tiebreaker will be played at six-games-all. The singles championship will be a 64-player tournament beginning at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday and culminating in the NCAA title match on Monday, May 29.
First-Round Match-Up
Hagar will face Northwestern’s No. 67 Konrad Zieba in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship at 1:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. Zieba went 22-10 in singles this season, playing primarily at the No. 2 spot for the Wildcats. Hagar and Zieba have never met in singles at the collegiate level.
ITA Distinction
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its regional awards on Monday, May 15, and Hagar earned the Most Improved Player award for the Midwest, which is given to a senior each season. Hagar led the Irish at No. 1 singles with a 20-15 overall singles record (11-11 in duals) and ranks No. 51 heading into the singles championship. Hagar also posted a 26-12 overall doubles record and ranked as high as No. 6 in doubles with partner Eddy Covalschi.
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For the latest on all things Irish men’s tennis, follow @NDMensTennis on Twitter and like Notre Dame Men’s Tennis on Facebook.
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Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.