BRACKET
 
NORFOLK, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University men's tennis team has qualified for the 2017 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championship and will play Norfolk State University in the quarterfinals on Thursday, April 20 as announced by league Monday.
 
The Eagles are the No. 3 seed from the Southern Division and will play the second-seeded Spartans from the Northern Division at Old Dominion University's Folkes/Stevens Indoor Tennis Center at 4 p.m. Thursday.
 
The two teams will be playing each other for the first time in two seasons. NSU won the last meeting, 4-3, on March 24, 2015, but none of NCCU's current players were on that squad.
 
The Eagles return to the MEAC Championship after a one-year hiatus after going 2-2 in the Southern Division in 2017. NCCU finished the regular season 7-14 overall while also going 3-0 against Northern Division competition for a combined 5-2 ledger against conference member competition. The Spartans enter postseason play 3-8 overall. Norfolk State went 3-1 in division play to collect the No. 2 Northern seed, with its lone loss coming to Morgan State (NCCU defeated MSU).
 
NCCU is 1-0 in the MEAC quarterfinals after knocking off Northern top-seed Morgan State in its first and only other league tourney appearance in 2015.
 
The NCCU/NSU winner will play in the semifinals on Friday. The victor will battle the winner of the No. 1 South seed South Carolina State vs. No. 4 North seed Howard at Noon on Friday.
 
The championship match is slated for Noon on Saturday.
 
The other half of the bracket features No. 1 North seed Morgan State playing No. 4 South seed North Carolina A&T and No. 2 South seed Florida A&M battling No. 3 North seed Hampton.