The Southwestern University Pirates men's tennis team earned the highest national ranking in program history when the Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its latest polls this week, climbing to No. 24 in Division III.

The ITA Rankings are determined by coaches polling, covering the top 40 teams in the nation.

This marks the first time the program has cracked the Top 25 barrier after entering the season ranked No. 30. Southwestern set its previous program-best mark last season, climbing as high as No. 28 in the nation.

The Pirates are 3-1 on the season and 1-1 against nationally-ranked opponents after splitting a pair of weekend matches against Redlands and Caltech in California. Southwestern upset the then-ranked No. 18 University of Redlands 5-4 on Saturday, Feb. 15. Southwestern before losing to Caltech (23) on the second day of a back-to-back.

Southwestern will make a second trip to California from Mar. 19-22 to face nationally-ranked Denison (27), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2), and Whitman (28). The Pirates will also host nationally-ranked Kalamazoo (30) on Thursday, Mar. 26 and Trinity University (12) on Thursday, Apr. 9 on the last day of the regular season.