{"id":650309,"date":"2026-05-05T03:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T03:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650309\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T03:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T03:06:17","slug":"historic-selection-no-35-harding-to-host-ncaa-central-regional-bisons-earn-no-2-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650309\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORIC SELECTION: No. 35 Harding to Host NCAA Central Regional; Bisons Earn No. 2 Seed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n                    &#13;<br \/>\n                        Story Links&#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">SEARCY, Ark. \u2013 For the first time in program history, the David Elliott Tennis Complex will play host to the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The NCAA announced its 2026 Division II Men&#8217;s Tennis Championship field on Monday evening, revealing that Harding has earned an at-large bid as the No. 2 seed in the Central Region. The Bisons (16-7) are set to host the No. 3 seed University of Nebraska-Kearney on Monday, May 11, at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>A Season of Firsts<\/p>\n<p>While this marks Harding&#8217;s 14th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament\u2014and their third consecutive trip\u2014the 2026 selection carries unprecedented significance. It is the first time the Bisons have been selected to host a regional match on their home courts in Searcy.<\/p>\n<p>Harding enters the tournament following a historic run to the MIAA Tournament championship match and looks to break another barrier on Monday: securing the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.<\/p>\n<p>The Road to Surprise<\/p>\n<p>The Central Regional is a single-elimination &#8220;winner-take-all&#8221; match. The victor between the Bisons and the Lopers will punch their ticket to the 2026 NCAA Division II Men&#8217;s Tennis National Championship.<\/p>\n<p>The national rounds, featuring the final 16 teams, will be held from May 20-24 at the Surprise Tennis &amp; Racquet Complex in Surprise, Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Familiar Foes<\/p>\n<p>Monday&#8217;s matchup will be a rematch of the MIAA Tournament semifinal held just last week in Springfield, Missouri. In that meeting, Harding overcame a doubles point deficit to defeat Nebraska-Kearney 4-1, fueled by singles victories from <a href=\"https:\/\/hardingsports.com\/sports\/mens-tennis\/roster\/jan-alexander-has\/19345\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"19345\" target=\"_blank\">Jan Alexander Has<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/hardingsports.com\/sports\/mens-tennis\/roster\/adrian-solorzano\/18775\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"18775\" target=\"_blank\">Adrian Solorzano<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/hardingsports.com\/sports\/mens-tennis\/roster\/sebastian-de-las-salas\/19967\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"19967\" target=\"_blank\">Sebastian De Las Salas<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/hardingsports.com\/sports\/mens-tennis\/roster\/cian-mikkelsen\/18774\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"18774\" target=\"_blank\">Cian Mikkelsen<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Match Info<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Who: (2) Harding vs. (3) Nebraska-Kearney<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>What: NCAA Central Regional (First Round)<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>When: Monday, May 11 | 11:00 AM<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Where: David Elliott Tennis Complex | Searcy, Ark.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Admission: Fans are encouraged to attend; check HardingSports.com for updates regarding weather and live scoring links.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The Bisons are led by senior <a href=\"https:\/\/hardingsports.com\/sports\/mens-tennis\/roster\/adrian-solorzano\/18775\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"18775\" target=\"_blank\">Adrian Solorzano<\/a>, ranked No. 66 nationally in singles, and the No. 3-ranked doubles duo of Solorzano and <a href=\"https:\/\/hardingsports.com\/sports\/mens-tennis\/roster\/cian-mikkelsen\/18774\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"18774\" target=\"_blank\">Cian Mikkelsen<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; Story Links&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; SEARCY, Ark. \u2013 For the first time in program history, the David&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-650309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}