John Carroll had a taste of the NCAA postseason last year, and would love a return trip back. But the defending league champions face an arduous journey on their way to a potential repeat as the 2016 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament gets underway Wednesday.

Championship Website (hosted by Ohio Northern University)

The Blue Streaks completed an undefeated run through the OAC regular season schedule for the first time since 1997 when Greg Debeljak and his eventual league championship team went 9-0.

By winning all eight league matches this season, John Carroll has earned the #1 seed in the tournament, and will host #8 seed Marietta on Wednesday, May 4, in a quarterfinal round match to be held at Cleveland State starting at 3:30 p.m.

The OAC Tournament semifinals and championship will be held Friday and Saturday, May 6-7, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. The men's semifinal will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, with the semifinal winners advancing to play in the OAC Championship on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The tournament champion receives the Ohio Athletic Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship.

The Blue Streaks are 11-7 overall this season and 8-0 in the OAC. JCU began the year 1-6 facing a schedule populated mainly with NCAA Division I, II and NAIA teams before winning ten of its last eleven matches. The team has one senior (Alex Mihas) and two juniors (Jad Abdul-Aal and Nick Siciliano) with the rest of the roster consisting of sophomores and freshmen.

John Carroll has won the OAC crown six times -- 1990, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2006 and 2015. Last year's title was the first that carried John Carroll into NCAA postseason play.