EWING—With a 8-1 win over William Paterson on September 21, The College of New Jersey’s women’s tennis team captured its 32nd consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference championship and secured the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. The Lions remain unbeaten all-time in NJAC play with 159 straight conference victories dating back to the Fall of 1982.

TCNJ captured the conference crown and just the fourth NJAC women’s tennis AQ by posting five conference victories in a span of only 22 days. The Lions opened the season with a 9-0 victory at Rutgers University-Camden on August 31. Four days later, they traveled to defeat Ramapo College on the road, 9-0. They then topped Stockton 9-0 on September 20, before defeating Kean 9-0 on September 20th. The Lions clinched the league title for the 32nd straight time with a 8-1 win over William Paterson on September 21.

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 159 straight victories over the course of 32 seasons. The streak has spanned 32 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 72-0 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.