NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Concordia College men's tennis team moved up in the NCAA Division II/ITA rankings from eighth in the country to third according to this week's poll.  This marks the first time the Clippers have been ranked as high as third in the country. 

The Clippers were ranked 10th in the beginning of the season and moved up to eighth after their stellar 6-0 performance to start the spring season.  During that stretch, Concordia defeated the then #1 (now #4) Barry University. Barry won the national championship last season.

The Clippers have faced numerous highly-ranked teams to start the spring, including the No. 1 ranked NAIA school, Fresno Pacific, and No. 6 Rollins and No. 17 Flagler.

"It is really nice to be ranked among the elite teams in the country and to be considered in the same air as Armstrong Atlantic, Valdosta State and others.  We have tremendous respect for these programs and know that we still have much work to do going forward in order to achieve our goals," stated Assistant Coach Daniel Rockhill. 

In addition to getting quality wins against ranked opponents, Concordia has started the conference season with a 5-0 record, with all of those wins coming by 9-0 scores.