Among the oldest and most successful intercollegiate sports at Occidental, Tiger tennis has established itself as one of the leading small-college programs on the West Coast.

In nearly a century of intercollegiate play, and with a schedule that is among the toughest in NCAA Division III, Oxy has garnered more than 20 conference championships. The last few years have not been so kind to the Tigers but, with the addition of coaches Blair Slattery and Cici Louie, Occidental is back on the fast track to re-establishing its tennis dynasty.

Since 1976, Occidental has been a member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which includes Caltech, California Lutheran University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, University of La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer, University of Redlands, and Whittier College.

The competitive nature and stature of Southern California collegiate tennis is reflected in the SCIAC; eight conference teams finished the 2002-03 season with a national ranking. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps ranked 9th, followed by Redlands (10th), Cal Lutheran (11th), Pomona-Pitzer (25th). On the women’s side, Pomona-Pitzer finished 7th, followed by Redlands (13th), Claremont-Mudd Scripps (14th), and Cal Lutheran (15th).

Roughly half of Oxy’s schedule is against teams ranked in the nationally, giving the Tigers the opportunity to compete against some of the best players in the nation.  According to Coach Slattery, Occidental is quickly catching up to these powerhouse programs.  "We'll be competitive with these teams this year and hopefully overtake them in the 2004-05 season."