NEWARK, N.J. — The NJIT women's tennis team, the 2022 Southland Conference Tournament runners-up, have earned the No. 5 seed in the 2023 addition of the conference tourney, the league announced Tuesday morning.

The Highlanders will open the ten-team tournament - which runs from Thursday, April 20, through Sunday, April 23 at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Courts on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi - on its second day in a 4/5 matchup against No. 4 seed Northwestern State (April 21. 10 a.m. CT / 11 a.m. ET). The winner of that match will face the winner of top seeded TAMU-CC and the opening match between No. 8 Bryant and No. 9 Nichols.

In its first-ever Southland tournament in 2022, NJIT stunned the league as a 4-seed, winning their 4/5 match against Nicholls in the quarterfinals (4-1) and upsetting top-seeded Northwestern State in the semifinals (4-3) before falling to No. 2 seeded TAMU-CC in the championship final.

Live scoring will be available for each match, with the championship match on Sunday broadcast on ESPN+. The winner of the single elimination tournament will claim the Southland's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championship.

NOTE: As affiliate members, NJIT and Bryant were seeded based on comparisons of ITA rankings against the conference field.
 
Rankings comparison
When considering an affiliate member's ITA ranking relative to core/full schedule teams tied in the standings, the core/full schedule team with the higher ITA ranking will be compared to the affiliate member's ITA ranking. In this case, McNeese was the comparison team in the 3-4 tie, and Southeastern was the comparison team in the 6-7 tie.

2023 Southland Conference Tournament Seeds
No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
No. 2 UIW
No. 3 McNeese
No. 4 Northwestern State
No. 5 NJIT
No. 6 Lamar
No. 7 Southeastern 
No. 8 Bryant
No. 9 Nicholls
No. 10 New Orleans


Thursday, April 20
1 - No. 8 Bryant vs. No. 9 Nichols (10 a.m. / 11 a.m. ET)
2 - No. 7 Southeastern vs. No. 10 New Orleans (10 a.m. / 11 a.m. ET)

Friday, April 21
3 - No. 1 A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Match 1 Winner (10 a.m. / 11 a.m. ET).
4 - No. 4 Northwestern State vs. No. 5 NJIT (10 a.m. / 11 a.m. ET)
5 - No. 2 UIW vs. Match 2 Winner (2 p.m. / 3 p.m ET)
6 - No. 3 McNeese vs. No. 6 Lamar (2 p.m. / 3 p.m ET)

Saturday, April 22
7 - Match 3 Winner vs. Match 4 Winner (10 a.m. / 11 a.m. ET)
8 - Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner (10 a.m. / 11 a.m. ET)

Sunday, April 23
9 - Match 7 Winner vs. Match 8 Winner (10 a.m. / 11 a.m. ET)