Before we fully turn our attention to the coming NCAA tournaments, we here at Cracked Racquets wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of the best stories that closed out the men and women’s regular seasons.

These answers are taken from a round table discussion that Cracked Racquets participated in, hosted by Tennis Recruiting Network. Check out the entire roundtable discussion here.

Arkansas Women Play Six Matches in One Day

As covered by Cracked Racquets, ESPN, Deadspin, SI, and many others, the Arkansas Women’s tennis team scheduled SIX (!!!!) matches in one day against Tennessee State to try and qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA tennis tournament requires that it’s at-large bids go to teams with a .500 record or better. Arkansas entered the day with a 10-16 record, and over the course of fourteen hours, rose to the 16-16 mark.

The ethics behind this type of scheduling are unquestionably terrifying. This type of incident casts shame on the entire sport and calls into question the rules that govern it. In a swift delivery of karma, Arkansas failed to qualify for the tournament and the school dismissed Head Coach Michael Hegarty.

Investigations are sure to follow, but one thing for certain: we must redefine the way we approach college tennis to ensure that this type of incident can never happen again.

Commodores Epic Comeback

The Arkansas women’s program may have stole the headlines, but the Vanderbilt women’s team storming back from a 3-1 deficit against No. 10 Florida to win the SEC regular season title didn’t go unnoticed.

SEC Regular Season Title | ✅

SEC Tournament Title | ✅

Hello, NCAAS…#FightDoreshttps://t.co/DWmYOjawl7 — Vandy Women’s Tennis (@Vandywtennis) April 22, 2018

The then third-ranked Commodores claimed their second straight SEC regular season championship playing without their top player, Astra Sharma, against a top-ten conference rival and on the road in Gainesville. Did I mention they were trailing in each of the remaining three courts!?

This storybook finish propelled Head Coach Geoff Macdonald and his team to an SEC Tournament title and the No. 1 overall seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

Texas Only Power-Five to Win Both Men and Women’s Conference Tournaments

The Texas Longhorns won both the men’s and women’s Big 12 Tournament. That is an incredible accomplishment for their university in a very competitive conference.

One 🏆 was not enough. Had to go get the other one. 🏆 Texas is a Big 12 Champion 2 times in 2018! 🤘 Relive our title-winner today over Texas Tech #HookEm #Big12Tennis pic.twitter.com/KuDEklW6C2 — Texas Women’s Tennis (@TexasWTN) April 30, 2018

Yes, the Longhorns did have a home-court advantage with the event being held at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, but both teams still had to make their way through difficult brackets in order to leave with the titles.

Really appreciate the great crowd behind us today at Texas Tennis Center! We think we made it worth your while! 🏆 Relive today’s Big 12 title win over Baylor here 🤘 pic.twitter.com/vRS7FZPOjt — Texas Men’s Tennis (@TexasMTN) April 30, 2018

There were only four other schools (Alabama State, Idaho, North Florida, and VCU) to win both men’s and women’s championships, but Texas was the only one to accomplish it in a power-five conference.

Demon Deacons Dominate

Virginia has utterly dominated men’s tennis lately, winning three of the last four NCAA championships under Coach Brian Boland. This year was supposed to be different. Heading into the season it was anybody’s guess as to who would win the title. Head Coach Tony Bresky and his veteran-led squad have proved otherwise.

Wake Forest men’s tennis receives top seed for NCAA Tournament https://t.co/Bxyf43ThCd via @JournalNow — Jay Spivey (@JaySpivey_WSJ) May 2, 2018

Although they dropped two 4-3 matches along the way (at FSU, Florida), Wake Forest has been perched atop the men’s national rankings for the last 16 weeks. The team displayed poise and focus bringing home their program’s first-ever National Indoor title in Seattle. More recently, they routed UNC 4-0 in front of a record-setting crowd to win the ACC Tournament Championship.

The Demon Deacons are the 2018 ACC Champions! #GoDeacs pic.twitter.com/3EzidSeXkT — Wake Men’s Tennis (@WakeMTennis) April 29, 2018

Given the way the season has gone and the fact that this year’s NCAA tournament will be hosted by none other than the Deacs, the stars seem to be aligning in Winston-Salem.

UNC Women Defend Title

Another nice story that stood out was the North Carolina women’s team coming through the ACC Tournament draw to defend their title, winning as the #3 seed.

The Tar Heels had a couple tough losses to Georgia Tech and Duke in the regular season, but were able to avenge those losses on their way to the ACC Tournament title.

It was also the 600th win for Head Coach Brian Kalbas, who is definitely one of the best in the business. The Heels have serious momentum heading into NCAA’s.

What do you think the best story was from the 2018 NCAA seasons? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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