Starting with oh so many, the field has dwindled down to a select few for NIU tennis’ Erick Martinez and Juan Pablo Barriga.

Over 10,000 players and nearly 600 schools participate annually in the Omni Hotels Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Regional and National Collegiate tournaments.

That field has shrunk to 32 singles and 16 doubles teams on both the men’s and women’s side for the Indoor Championships. Martinez and Barriga are members of the elite group who will participate in this weekend’s tournament which begins this morning.

The event, which takes place at both Southern Methodist University and the Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas, will mark the first time in the history of NIU that any singles player or doubles team has been to this prestigious tournament.

“This is a great accomplishment for Juan and Erick,” NIU men’s tennis coach Steven Rodecap said. “They are now going to participate in the most selective field in all of collegiate tennis.”

The field is so selective, the ITA’s preseason No. 1 doubles team in the country couldn’t get an invite. However, the doubles teams from No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 San Diego State, No. 4 Illinois and No. 5 Tulane all will be represented at the event.

“It’s going to be an exciting weekend for me and Erick,” Barriga said. “Getting a chance to play against all of the best teams is great. We’re excited.”

To get the invite, Martinez and Barriga won the ITA Midwest Regional which fielded 64 doubles teams. The victory was not only a surprise because of the difficult field, but also because they were the No. 2 doubles team from NIU coming into this year behind the duo of Raymond van Wasbeek and Aaron Forsberg.

Rodecap was quick to point out that the gap between the two pairs was small.

“We’ve always had pretty even doubles play,” he said. “Last season, Erick and Juan only lost two matches and one of them was to SMU [Southern Methodist] who finished No. 2 the season before.”

Last season, Barriga and Martinez finished 13-2 in doubles play. Combined with an 11-1 record in this fall season, the pair could be a formidable match for any of the big schools they might come up against this weekend.

Barriga and Martinez always have been among the more interesting stories on the men’s team for NIU. Barriga arrived here three years ago from Mexico and told Rodecap about another player from Mexico he thought they should recruit. By the next season, Martinez arrived and the doubles pair has been winning ever since.

When asked whether he expected this kind of success upon making the trip to DeKalb, Barriga seemed confident.

“Somehow, yeah. Maybe not at this stage in our tennis careers, but we always expect to win our matches,” he said. “We try not to focus on winning; we just focus on getting better every time we go out there.”

The two continue their friendship together and are even roommates for the second straight year. Their friendship has allowed their play on the court to blossom and give the two an edge against other teams.

Now, they hope their chemistry can pay the ultimate dividends in Texas.