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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
Just before Christmas, the NCHSAA released its first draft of new conference assignments for the 25-26 realignment.
Of the 62 conferences, only 14 will be composed entirely of schools within the same classification. Forty-two conferences have two classifications represented, and six are three-way splits.
Of the 442 schools assigned to conferences (2 were classed as "independents"), only 89 are shown in conferences composed entirely of schools in a single classification, while 309 were in two-way splits, and 44 are in three-way splits.
Ten schools are listed as the only school of a given classification in its conference, and 46 schools are one of two schools in a given class in its conference.
The prevalence of split conferences is true in all eight classifications, and is testimony to the fact that the Realignment Committee prioritized geography and natural rivalry over grouping schools of similar size.
Click here to see the complete conference assignment report as posted on the NCHSAA website.
The NCHSAA will entertain appeals to the conference assignments in the coming weeks, and will release a final report once all appeals have been resolved.
For a complete discussion of the coming realignment, including the conference assignments, as well as the issues the realignment poses for high school tennis, check out our Notes on the 25-26 Realignment.
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
The NCHSAA Board of Directors held its 2024 winter meeting in Chapel Hill on December 4th and 5th, with the issues surrounding the 2025-26 realignment taking center stage.
The primary headline is: nothing new was decided about realignment or playoff structures, but intense discussions about these issues are ongoing.
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
For the past several years, the NCHSAA has required the use of a "dual-team lineup sheet", which coaches exchange prior to the beginning of the match.
Over the summer, NCHSTCA leadership, working with Caitlin McMannen at NCHSAA, revised the lineup sheet to address several shortcomings of the previous version, and to reduce confusion about what coaches can and cannot do with their dual-team lineups.
In addtion, we've written a "user's guide" to the revised lineup sheet, to explain what's changed and how the lineup sheet is to be used.
Click here for a .pdf copy of the lineup sheet, and for a copy of the user's guide.
An interactive Excel version of the lineup sheet, which you can download and complete on your own computer, is being emailed to all coaches for whom we have an accurate email address. If you have not received your copy, please send an email to our
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
The NCHSAA Board of Directors met last Wednesday and Thursday at the NCHSAA offices in Chapel Hill to conduct its Winter 2023 meeting.
At the meeting, the Board approved two items specific to tennis that had been recommended by the NCHSTCA Board of Directors.
The first item addressed two issues related to the distribution of berths among the conferences to the individual regional tournaments. Previously, the NCHSAA handbook only stated that the berths would be distributed "on a percentage basis". The exact procedure for determining these percentages, and the number of berths each conference would receive, was not described.
The NCHSTCA proposal placed language in the NCHSAA Handbook that describes in detail how this process works, so that players, parents, and coaches can know how the number of berths received by their conference was calculated.
The NCHSTCA proposal also tweaked the formula by which these berths are calculated, resulting in a more precise relationship between the "percentage basis" and the actual berths the conference receives.
Click here for the complete text of the regional berth distribution proposal.
The proposal was adopted unanimously by the Sports Committee, and by the Board of Directors as a whole. The change in the distribution formula will take effect in the fall 2024 women's tennis season.
The second item recommended by the NCHSTCA was to codify the practice of using alternate match formats during the regular season, should the coaches mutually agree.
It has been long-standing practice for coaches to agree to play a shortened match format, for instance, pro-sets in singles, when weather or scheduling issues made such desireable.
However, the NCHSAA handbook defined a regular season match format, and did not include language allowing for alternate formats.
The NCHSTCA proposal on this matter retained the current regular season dual-team format as the "default format" for regular season matches, but allows coaches, by mutual agreement, to play pro-sets in singles or to play using no-ad scoring.
Click here for the complete text of the alternate match format proposal.
This proposal was also adopted without dissent by the Sports Committee and the Board of Directors. This change in the handbook language, since it merely codifies long-standing practice, was adopted to take effect immediately.
The NCHSAA Board also adopted the 2024-25 Sports Calendar.
Women's tennis teams may begin practice on Wednesday, July 31st, and play their first matches on Monday, August 12th. Dual team playoffs begin on Wednesday, October 16th, and the individual regional tournaments take place on Friday-Saturday, October 18th-19th. The individual state tournaments take place on October 25th-26th, and the dual team finals are scheduled for Saturday, November 2nd.
In the spring of 2025, men's tennis teams may begin practice on Wednesday, February 12th, and play their first matches on Monday, February 24th. Dual team plaoffs begin on Wednesday, April 30th, and the invidiaul regional tournaments are set for Friday-Saturday, May 2nd-3rd. The individual state tournaments take place on May 9th-10th, and the dual team finals will occur on Saturday, May 17th.
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
In the light of the passage of SB452, NCHSAA staff decided not to change the process for distributing regional berths for the Fall 2023 girls tennis individual tournament in singles and doubles.
NCHSTCA’s Board of Directors had recommended a change to that process that would more fairly distribute regional berths among the conferences, and at our summer meeting with NCHSAA staff, it was agreed to implement that change for the fall season. At the time, NCHSAA staff believed it had the authority to implement the change administratively.
Believing that the change would take place, we posted on our website a detailed step-by-step explanation of how regional berths would be distributed amongst the conferences.
NCHSAA staff agree that the NCHSTCA proposal is an improvement to the process, and will result in greater fairness regarding the distribution of regional berths.
Read more: Process for Regional Berth Distribution Reverts to Previous Rules