UNC Women and Oklahoma Men Maintain Hold of Number One Spots

March 17, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: USTA

The North Carolina women and Oklahoma men, both champions of the 2015 ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships, maintained their number one spots in the ITA Division I National Team Rankings this week.

On the women's side, North Carolina kept the top ranking for the sixth straight edition dating back to Feb. 10. The Tar Heels went 2-0 on an ACC road trip to Notre Dame and Louisville this week, and the stability atop the rankings is mirrored again by a Top 10 reshuffling behind North Carolina. The Florida Gators are back to number two after a one-week layoff after posting a 2-0 road record against conference foes, defeating Arkansas and Missouri.

California leapt from number nine to three after taking down number 16 Pepperdine in Malibu and number 67 San Diego State on the road as well. Coming in at four are the Georgia Bulldogs, a former number two this season who beat number 12 Vanderbilt and number 20 Kentucky this week. The fifth-ranked team this week is UCLA, who fell from number two behind the strength of Florida's, California's and Georgia's wins. The Bruins beat Washington State on the road this week.

Number six Baylor beat two conference rivals on the road to continue the trend of the week. The Bears took down number 11 Oklahoma State and number 29 Oklahoma to start 2-0 in Big 12 play. USC fell from number four to number seven and picked up a win at Washington State.

Number eight Virginia and number 10 Stanford did not play this week, while number nine Alabama fell three spots after splitting their Magnolia State swing. The Crimson Tide toppled number 17 Mississippi on Friday, but fell to Mississippi State in Starkville on Sunday, with the upset helping to propel the Bulldogs from 41st to 27th this week.

On the men's side, Illinois took advantage of a trip to Texas by registering 4-2 wins over Top 10 foes Texas and Texas A&M to garner the number two ranking. TCU's upset of Illinois on Monday will count toward next week's rankings, as it came after Sunday's results deadline for weekly rankings.

Tulsa upset a second Top 10 opponent this season on Sunday in a 5-2 win over number 10 Ohio State to surge into the Top 25 for the first time this season at the 20 spot. The Golden Hurricane moved to 12-7 and also picked up a 4-1 win over Michigan.

New to the Top 25 this week is LSU at 23. The 13-3 Tigers posted two wins on Sunday to improve 12-0 at W.T. "Dub" Robinson Tennis Stadium in 2015. The first triumph of the day was a 4-1 win over number 11 Vanderbilt, in which the Tigers' 18th-ranked duo of Jordan Daigle & Boris Arias posted a win over the top-ranked Vanderbilt pairing of Gonzales Austin & Rhys Johnson. After claiming the doubles point, LSU won straight-set matches at numbers three to five singles to emerge victorious.

Also piling up wins on the men's side is SMU, which recorded its first two ranked wins of the season. The 15-2 Mustangs started the season outside the Top 75, but have moved all the way up to number 34 in the ITA Division I National Men's Team Rankings. Unlike SMU, UNC-Wilmington started the season safely in the Top 75 at number 50, but has been in and out throughout the season. A pair of Top 50 wins over number 25 Drake and number 48 Penn State slingshotted the Seahawks all the way to 49th this week.

 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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