2017-18 rules governing tennis

Region Winner and Runner-up Team champions decided by April 9.  Teams shall be determined by a round robin schedule.
Region Individual Champions decided by a tournament on or before April 16.

After the first round the team that has hosted fewer number of playoff rounds will be designated the home team.  If both teams have hosted an equal number of playoff rounds, the host site will be determined by the LOWER number of the opponent’s Region.

One member of a doubles team may be substituted between the Region and state tournament if the participant is sick or injured.  The substitute must be a player who did not participate in the Region tournament.

All playoff matches (Region and up) are to be played on hard courts.

Coaching: Coaching is allowed at any time during the match by the head coach and one designated assistant. Coaching must be done outside of the fenced area, not during a point, and not interfering with the match. The coach should not interfere with line calls or score of the match. These things should be settled by the players on the court. If help is needed, both coaches can get together and decide what is in the best interest of the players on the court. `

Match Format: A Mississippi High School team tennis match consists of the following: #1 Boys Singles, #1 Girls Singles, #1 Boys Doubles, #2 Boys Doubles, #1 Girls Doubles, #2 Girls Doubles, Mixed Doubles.

  • There will be a 2 minute break between sets. A 3 minute break after split sets. 90 second break on change-over during the match.
  • In case of injury or sickness BEFORE the first point is played – a team may substitute a player that is NOT on the original roster. This person MUST be placed in the line-up where the sick or injured player was scheduled.
  • In case of injury or sickness DURING the match – there is a one-time 15 minute assessment a care allowed. After that all other time rules are enforced.
  • In case of split sets, a third set will consist of a super tie-breaker (first team to 10 points, win by 2 points). There is a 3 minute break between all sets in a team match. The service rotation by the players
  • Line ups must be exchanged at the same time and not altered after the exchange.
  • All matches should be played to their entirety. If a team has to forfeit a match, the coach must give that information before the line up exchange. If a doubles match is forfeited it must be the #2 doubles court.

Division Team Play: Division team champions and runner-ups will be decided by a round robin ONE TIME match schedule among division teams. This is the division team champion. Division coaches should conference and make up this schedule before scheduling any other dates or matches with other teams. You may play as many matches with division teams as you wish, but you MUST DESIGNATE one of them as the division match on record.

Tiebreak Procedure If Teams Have The Same Record:

  • Two team tie: Head to head match result between teams.
  • Three (or four) team tie:
  1. Fewest total matches lost in those 3 team’s matches
  2. (if still tied) Fewest total sets lost in those 3 team’s matches
  3. (if still tied) Fewest total games lost in those 3 team’s matches
  4. (if still tied) flip a coin

Division Individual Play: The Individual division tournament consists of 5 separate flights.

  1. Boys Singles
  2. Girls Singles
  3. Boys Doubles
  4. Girls Doubles
  5. Mixed Doubles
  • The Champion and runner-up in each flight will be eligible to play in the state individual tournament.
  • It is the responsibility of the host coach of the division tournament to email or fax these eligible individuals immediately to the MHSAA office.

Seeding For Individual Play:

– Seeding for each flight should be based on a teams record in that particular position during he division round robin.

– Seeding for Doubles: #1 Doubles teams shall be seeded based on record in that position. #2 doubles teams MUST be placed opposite their teams #1 pair in the bracket.

– In case of a coach moving a really good player to another flight just for the individual tournament . It is the fair thing to inform the other coaches ahead of time as to this change so those coaches can then possibly make changes of their own.

– When making out the bracket for the individual tournament, all coaches should be reminded that the main focus of the event is to provide the two best players or doubles teams the chance to advance, regardless of what position they played throughout the year. Do everything you can not to penalize a successful team or player in a particular flight just because you decided to move a player on tournament day.

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