PODCAST | Mallory Matthews w/KMHT's Matthew Paul
  MARSHALL, Texas – It's been 20 years since NCAA Division III post season for East Texas Baptist University. The Tigers will see their first action in the NCAA Tournament since 2003 on Thursday afternoon in Oshkosh, Wisc. ETBU is the no. 7 seed in the eight team Oshkosh Regional Tournament.
 
"We are really excited going into regionals as everybody is 0-0. We are super excited to get to compete and I am really proud of this team and all the hard work they put into this season and now it's paying off," said head coach Mallory Matthews.
 
ETBU will face #13 North Park University at 2:00 p.m. in the Kroft Sports Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. This will be the first meeting between the two programs. The regional features eight teams with five ranked including #3 UW Oshkosh, #12 Calvin, #13 North Park, #18 Gustavus Adolphus, #20 La Verne, Otterbein, and Greenville. 
                                                  
The automatic bid came ETBU's way after winning the American Southwest Conference Tournament. It is the fourth time ETBU will play in the NCAA Tournament as they have a 2-3 record in the tournament. In 2003, ETBU went 1-1 in the tournament winning their opening match vs. Maryville (TN), 3-0, but then fell to Trinity University, 3-0. ETBU's first win came in 2001 in their first match in the tournament, 3-2, over Maryville.
 
Riding a 10-match winning streak, it is the third longest in program history following a program best 13-match streak from earlier this year. The 25 wins are second most in program history behind the 32 wins from the 2013 season. ETBU last won 25 matches in 2002 under Suzanne Wingrove going 25-12 with a perfect 14-0 record in the ASC. That was in the middle of the five-year tenure from Wingrove where she won three ASC Championships, went to three-straight NCAA Tournaments and won 117 overall matches.
 
NPU has the sixth toughest schedule in the nation with five of their six losses coming to ranked teams. They have 25 wins and went 8-0 in the CCIW (College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) regular season and then won the tournament, 3-1, over Carthage College. In the season, they had a 12-match winning streak and are currently on a six-match win streak.
 
The road to a national championship starts at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday in Oshkosh, Wisc.