MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Surprise, Surprise, guess who's coming back to Arizona?

No. 1-ranked Barry University men's tennis team will begin its quest for a fourth NCAA Division II championship Wednesday when the Buccaneers (22-2) meet No. 40 St. Edward's at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex. The Bucs are returning to Surprise, Arizona, for a third time, both of the previous trips resulting in national titles.

"We definitely have fond memories of this place," Barry head coach George Samuel said. "It's been a welcome venue to us the previous two trips, and we'd like nothing more than to continue that trend this year."

The Buccaneers are 8-0 in their two national championship runs at Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex. They won national titles in 2013 and 2015 in the desert, both times in which they finished the season unbeaten. This year, while the Buccaneers have dropped two matches -- one of which they avenged in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament championship -- not all has aligned perfectly like their previous two flawless title years. Then again, Barry won it all for the first time in 2010 when it went 25-4.

"We've won championships in years where we've gone unbeaten, and we won our first where we had a few hiccups during the season," Samuel said. "We're hoping this is another one of those years where a few regular season blemishes helped get us ready for the big stage we find ourselves in now."

The Bucs were without the services of one of their top players, sophomore Pierre Montrieul, the South Region Player to Watch, at this week's regional. But fellow sophomore Carlos Gomez, who, like Montrieul, is in line for singles All-America honors so long as they both hold form in Arizona, played lights-out tennis at the top of the lineup in helping to send Barry back to the site of the national finals for the 20th time in program history.

But it wasn't just Gomez, who beat the 21st-ranked player in the country in straight sets at No. 1 singles in Barry's 5-0 sweep of last year's champion West Florida. Fifty second-ranked Vivien Versier delivered his biggest win of the season in a statement victory over the 12th-ranked player in the nation at No. 2. Gomez and Versier combined for a pair of pairs victories, running their consecutive win streak to 15 in a row.

Fernando Tous and Filip Zupancic authored their signature doubles win this season, taking down the 12th-ranked duo in the country at the No. 1 position in the sweep of the Argonauts, and Flavio Matteoli and Blake Bayldon picked up singles wins at the bottom of the lineup in the regional semifinal to give all six Bucs singles players double digit victories this season. Oh yeah, and the doubles results for the week: 6-0.

"We showed we can play our best tennis when it matters most," Samuel said. "Even though Daniel Ventura didn't pick up a singles point for us at the regional, he's been steady for us all year, and that's why he's been ranked all spring. When you really diagnose it, all of our guys have been steady this year.

"It's been a great season so far, but there's something bigger ahead, and now we have a crack at it. I feel like our guys have really come to terms with what this championship stage of the season means, and we're going to go out to Arizona and lay it all on the line."

Surprise, no more. The Bucs are bound for the desert, and there's no secret about what they've accomplished there already.

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