VESTAL, N.Y. - The Northeast Conference released its seeds Monday evening for the upcoming men's and women's tennis championships. In debut appearances in their new conference, the Binghamton men will carry the No. 1 seed into the nine-team bracket and the Bearcat women are slotted No. 8. The three-day, combined, single-elimination tournament will be held April 12-14 at the Mercer County Tennis Center in West Windsor, N.J.

The BU men were rewarded with the No. 1 seed after going 7-1 against NEC opponents (13-9 overall) during the regular season. Head coach Nick Zieziula's squad was picked to win the league in the preseason poll but most of the conference matches have been decided by the narrowest of margins, with BU winning five of its seven by a 4-3 score.

"It's going to be a fun week with a lot of tight matches," Zieziula said. "It's nice to have our work this season recognized with the No. 1 seed but once the matches start the only thing that will matter is if we can stay focused on our attitudes and execute our game plans. Two of our best weekends were when we had to play three matches in three days on different surfaces and I anticipate that experience will come in handy this weekend."     

The men will await the winner of a first-round match between No. 8 Stonehill and No. 9 Wagner and open play with a quarterfinal match Friday afternoon. 

The women begin their tournament with a first-round match match against No. 9 Merrimack at 9 a.m. Friday. A win would send coach Libby McGovern's squad into an afternoon quarterfinal tilt against top-seeded Sacred Heart.

"We are excited to play in a conference tournament for the first time since 2016," McGovern said. "The atmosphere, energy and competitiveness of that environment is something I'm glad our players will be able to experience firsthand."

The 2024 NEC champions will each earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships. FDU is the reigning champion on the men's side and LIU is the returning women's champion. 

Both the BU men's and women's tennis programs celebrated a return to a Northeast-based conference when Director of Athletics Eugene Marshall, Jr. announced BU had joined the NEC for tennis (and golf) last June. The new conference home was a big boost for both programs after the America East ended its men's tennis sponsorship after 2014 and women's after 2016. The women had enduring seven years without a conference affiliation while the men had been members of the high-ranking Mid-American Conference.   

Men's Seeds
1. Binghamton
2. FDU
3. Saint Francis U
4. LIU
5. Le Moyne
6. Sacred Heart
7. Merrimack
8. Stonehill
9. Wagner

Women's Seeds
1. Sacred Heart
2. LIU
3. Saint Francis U
4. FDU
5. Le Moyne
6. Wagner
7. Stonehill
8. Binghamton
9. Merrimack

2024 Northeast Conference Tennis Championships
at Mercer County Tennis Center
West Windsor, NJ

Friday, April 12
Women's First Round
#8 Binghamton vs. #9 Merrimack - 9 a.m.

Women's Quarterfinals
#1 Sacred Heart vs. #8 Binghamton/#9 Merrimack - Not before 2 p.m.
#2 LIU vs. #7 Stonehill - 9 a.m.
#3 Saint Francis U vs. #6 Wagner - Not before 11:30 a.m.
#4 FDU vs. #5 Le Moyne - Not before 11:30 a.m.

Men's First Round
#8 Stonehill vs. #9 Wagner - 9:00 am

Men's Quarterfinals
#1 Binghamton vs. #8 Stonehill/#9 Wagner - Not before 4:30 p.m.
#2 FDU vs. #7 Merrimack - Not before 11:30 a.m.
#3 Saint Francis U vs. #6 Sacred Heart - Not before 2 p.m.
#4 LIU vs. #5 Le Moyne - Not before 2 p.m.

Saturday, April 13

Women's Semifinal Matches - 10 a.m.
Men's Semifinal Matches - Not before 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 14
Women's Championship Match - 10 a.m.
Men's Championship Match - 1 p.m.