MAHWAH—With a pair of 9-0 road wins at both William Paterson and Ramapo on September 15, The College of New Jersey’s women’s tennis team clinched its 30th consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis championship and secured just the league’s second automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. The Lions remain unbeaten all-time in NJAC women’s tennis play with 147 straight conference victories dating back to the fall of 1982.

TCNJ captured the conference crown and just the second NJAC women’s tennis AQ by posting five conference victories in a span of only 16 days. The Lions opened the season with a 9-0 victory at Rutgers-Newark on August 31. One day later, they opened their home schedule with a 9-0 win over Kean. TCNJ then improved to 3-0 in conference with a 9-0 win over previously-unbeaten Richard Stockton on September 12. With the dual 9-0 match wins at William Paterson and Ramapo on September 15, TCNJ secured their 30th straight conference crown. The Lions will wrap up their conference season at Rutgers-Camden on September 16, with the league title already secure following the two wins on September 15.

Since women’s tennis was introduced as a conference sport in the fall of 1982, the Lions have never lost a league match – a streak of 147 straight victories over the course of 30 seasons. The streak has spanned 30 years and three different head coaches at the helm of the TCNJ program. The streak started in 1982 with Brenda Campbell as the Lions’ head coach, a role she handled until her retirement as women’s tennis coach in the summer of 1995. Under Campbell, the Lions compiled a 68-0 record in NJAC play. From 1995 through the 2000 season, Tricia Udicious was the head coach and guided the Lions to a 14-0 record. Under current head coach, Scott Dicheck, the Lions are now 65-0 in league action.

TCNJ’s women’s tennis team is perhaps the first team in any NCAA Division to secure an automatic bid to an NCAA Championship. The bracket for the 2013 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Tournament will be announced on Sunday, May 5 – exactly 231 calendar days following TCNJ’s clinching of the NJAC automatic qualification.