JONESBORO, Ark. (4/30/26) – The Arkansas State women's tennis team has accepted a bid to the 2026 UTR Sports Women's NIT Championship in Rome, Ga., May 5-8.

The tournament features eight teams and is in its fourth season. Similarly to other collegiate invitational tournaments, UTR offers teams which did not make the NCAA tournament a chance at postseason competition. This bid represents the first postseason bid in program history for Arkansas State women's tennis.

"For this team to be the first to play post season is fitting," A-State head coach Sujay Lama said. "These ladies deserve another shot at a championship. What a great opportunity to keep growing and getting better. We'll certainly make the most out of it."

A-State finished the season 13-9, its second consecutive season with 13 wins after not reaching the mark since 2008. The Red Wolves have back-to-back seasons with double digit victories for the first time since the 2008-09 seasons. With a combined 26 wins over the last two seasons, A-State has the most in a two-year stretch since claiming 30 wins over the 1999 (13-8) and 2000 (17-4) seasons. A-State earned its first win over a ranked opponent in program history with a 4-0 sweep of No. 74 South Alabama back on April 10.

Seeded third among the eight teams, the Red Wolves open against sixth-seeded McNeese at 1:30 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday, May 5. Kansas State (8-13) is the top seed and takes on Northern Illinois (17-8) while North Alabama (15-6) is the No. 4 seed taking on No. 5 seed Army (22-7). North Texas (17-8) is the No. 2 seed taking on seventh-seeded College of Charleston (16-8).

All matches in the tournament will be streamed on PlaySight with live scoring available via IOnCourt.