The No. 48 Drake men's tennis team (24-2), the league's NCAA automatic qualifier, will head to Champaign, Ill., to open NCAA Tournament play against No. 15 Auburn (17-9) on Friday, May 11, at 12:00 p.m.

Ironically, in each of the previous three tournament appearances for Drake (2007, 2008 and 2011), the Bulldogs have been chosen to play at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Illinois.  Drake dropped 4-0, 4-1 and 4-0 decisions to Michigan, Louisiana State and the host Illini in 2007, 2008 and 2011, respectively.

The other two teams in the region are 16th-seeded Illinois and Western Michigan, who will meet at 3:00 p.m. on May 11.  The winner of that match will square off against the winner of the Drake-Auburn contest on May 12 at 2:00 p.m.

First- and second-round competition takes place May 11-13 and features four teams playing in a single-elimination format. The winner of each site advances to the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., where the 16 teams will compete for the national championship May 18-22. The event will be hosted by the University of Georgia.

The matches shall be regulation dual matches with three eight-game, pro-set doubles played for one team point, followed by six singles matches, each valued at one team point, played best of three sets.  Regular scoring will be used and a 12-point tiebreaker will be played at eight games all in doubles and at six games all in singles.