Wake Rocks OU, Boilers Stun Tulsa, Rice Claws LSU, Nwstern Too Good For Duke, Dartmouth Out Greens The Wave

While the final day of the Pac-12/SEC Showdown in Los Angeles was a washout, it was warm and dry at the indoor facilities in Norman and Tulsa.

Wake Forest was coming off a tough loss on Friday to #25 Oklahoma State but the Demon Deacons made up for it today by taking out #2 Oklahoma. Wake played a solid doubles point as its #2 team of Petros Chrysochos and Jon Ho ran away with a quick 6-1 win at #2. Wake's #1 team of Christian Seraphim and Skander Mansouri broke the Axel Alvarez serve to go up 2-0 but Alvarez and Spencer Papa broke back to make it 2-1. It stayed on serve until Wake broke Spencer Papa's 5-6 service game on the deciding point to take the match 7-5 and give Wake the usually all-important doubles point. The match at #3 was on serve when Wake got the clincher at #1.

Oklahoma was playing without its #2 singles starter, Andrew Harris, since he's still recovering from knee tendonitis so everyone except Axel Alvarez had to shift up a spot in the lineup. OU had to do the same thing last week so it wasn't a surprise to any of the guys.

Sunday Preview - USC/UGA, UCLA/FLA, OU/Wake

I'm going to make my predictions on the 2 matches out in Los Angeles even though its looks like a wash out today - ground is wet as of 8am.  If they get these matches in they'd almost definitely play singles first and would only play doubles if necessary. (Both matches have been officially been cancelled due to rain)

#11 Wake Forest (4-1) at #2 Oklahoma (2-0) - 1pm est/12pm cst - Live Scoring & Fox Sports - Wake Forest is coming off a 4-2 loss at Oklahoma State on Friday night while Oklahoma plays for the first time since last weekend when they won a couple of tuneups against Troy and Utah State. The big question mark for Oklahoma is whether Andrew Harris makes his season debut because if he doesn't that might make Oklahoma a little vulnerable at the bottom of the lineup. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tony Bresky flop Bogaerts and Ho at #3 and #4 after Bogaerts got beat pretty soundly on Friday night at #3 against Oklahoma State's Arujn Kadhe. Last season Oklahoma went to Winston-Salem and won 5-2 but I think this one has the makings a 4-3 match.

USC and UCLA Both Win in LA & North Carolina Blanks Illinois

Day 1 of the Pac-12/SEC Challenge belonged to the Pac-12 as #8 USC edged #20 Florida 4-3 and #12 UCLA pulled away from #6 Georgia 6-1.

The day started off with #8 USC playing #20 Florida. USC came out of the shoot ready to go as they went up an early break on all 3 doubles courts. USC's #3 team of Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine broke the Florida serve on the opening game of the match and eventually went up 5-1. After Florida fought off two match points to hold for 2-5, USC's Rob Bellamy served it out for the 6-2 win.

Saturday Preview - USC/FLA, UCLA/UGA, UNC/ILL

Typically during the regular season we don't see a ton of great matches on Saturday but today we get 3 with 2 of them taking place at UCLA and the other at North Carolina. What's kind of interesting is that all 6 of these teams played each other on the same day 364 days ago. Last year North Carolina went to Illinois and USC and UCLA went to Athens to play Georgia and Florida. I'd consider almost all 3 of these matches as toss-ups with a lot depending on who plays and where they play.

It's always easier to make predictions on these matches when I know the lineups in advance like I do for the Kick-Off Weekend, National Indoors, and NCAAs. During these non-conference matches you see a lot of guys moved around plus there are always a few guys battling some injuries so you never know who will play and will sit until match time.

Friday Recap: Pokes Take Out The Deacs, Illini Dabs The Duke, Seminoles Roll The Tide, Tulane Wins Thriller

There was a solid schedule of matches on Friday and fortunately for us viewers almost all of them had a live stream available. There were a pair of top 25 teams going head to head and as expected both were close matches. #7 Illinois held on for a 4-3 road win at #24 Duke while #25 Oklahoma State pulled off the upset and beat #11 Wake Forest.

Oklahoma State took the doubles point with wins at #1 and #2 and then picked up first sets at #3, #5, and #6 while Wake took the rest. It looked like Dennis Uspensky was going to get the first set at #5 but Tristan Meraut broke him and then took the tiebreak 7-4.

Friday Preview - Illinois/Duke & Wake Forest/Oklahoma St

This busy weekend of college tennis gets started with a couple of good ones in Durham and Stillwater. Illinois was dominate in its first three matches last weekend while Duke has taken a few tough losses at home with its lone win coming over an unranked Elon. Wake Forest faced some resistance last weekend against Auburn while Oklahoma State was an eye lash away from upsetting #3 TCU before falling 4-3. I expect both matches to be highly competitive despite the rankings difference.

#7 Illinois (3-0) at #24 Duke (1-2)  - 6pm est - Live Scoring & Streaming - Most knew that Duke would struggle a little this season after losing Jason Tahir, Raphael Hemmeler, Bruno Semenzato, and Chris Mengel but the one thing that has been a bit surprising has been the play of Nicolas Alvarez. The sophomore from Lima, Peru started off the fall by making it to the finals of the Oracle/ITA Masters but since then he's just 2-5. Alvarez lost to San Diego's Uros Petronijevic in straight sets last weekend and the week prior he lost in straights to Kentucky's William Bushamuka. Both of those guys are solid players but to lose both in straight sets was surprising.

ITA Kick-Off Weekend Recap, On Wisconsin, Pac-12/SEC Challenge, TV Matches

It's back to regular season action this week but if you missed out on last weekend's ITA Kick-Off you can get caught up with my recap that I did for Tennis Recruiting.Net. There were lots of first-time qualifiers for the National Team Indoors and a lot of good stories over the weekend.

The best story so far this week is what's going on up in Madison, Wisconsin. In the off-season the Badgers hired Danny Westerman (UW '02) to replaced the departed Greg Van Emburgh and so far he has Wisconsin off a top a 2-0 start after upsetting #34 Princeton 4-3 on Wednesday night.

1/27 ITA Rankings Release

The newest rankings were released today with little movement in the men's top 10 while the women's top 10 saw 6 different teams shuffle spots.

That one top 10 change on the men's side was Texas A&M coming up a spot to #4 while Baylor drops a spot to #5 after struggling at home last weekend.

I'll start out on the men's side and look at the teams that moved up at least 4 spots and then look at the teams that fell at least 4 spots with any notable results listed from the last week through this past Sunday.

Movin' On Up:
#21 Northwestern - up 4 spots - beat #23 Tulsa 4-1, lost at #7 Illinois 4-0
#32 Tulane - up 5 spots - beat #44 Pepperdine 4-0; lost at #8 USC 4-3
#36 NC State - up 4 spots - beat #37 Drake 4-2; lost at #10 North Carolina 4-2

Pham Pushes Columbia Past Stanford & Wake Forest Wallops Tennessee

What's that old saying about saving the best for last - Columbia and Stanford sure didn't disappoint in the excitement department by bringing the house down at the USTA National Tennis Center in one of the final regionals of the 2016 ITA Kick-Off Weekend. These matches were originally scheduled to be played at Columbia's Dick Savitt Tennis Center but because of worries about the weight of the snow on the roof it was moved to the USTA NTC.

Going into the match I figured Columbia had to get the doubles point to have a realistic shot because I didn't see them taking 4 singles matches from Stanford but that's just what they did.

Stanford came out ready to go in doubles and went up early breaks at #2 and #3. Just one day removed from a 6-0 loss to Minnesota, Stanford's #3 team of David Wilczynski and Yale Goldberg jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and cruised to a 6-2 win.  Stanford's #2 team of Tom Fawcett and Sameer Kumar broke early to go up 2-1 but Columbia's Mike Vermeer and Michal Rolski had a chance to get the match back on serve when Kumar served at 4-3, 15-40. Kumar and Fawcett took the next 3 points to get the hold with Columbia's best chance coming at 30-40 when Rolski let a floater at the net drop instead of taking it out of the air and his chip return was ultimately blasted past him for a winner. Fawcett served it out from 5-4 to clinch the doubles point for the Cardinal.

San Diego Slides Past Duke, Soares Steals The Show, TCU Holds On, UNC/Baylor/Georgia Each Tested

Sunday was a great day for the guys from sunny San Diego as the Toreros went into snowy Durham and beat the host Duke Blue Devils 4-2 to clinch the school's first ever berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Sunday was also a day of near misses as #28 Oklahoma State, #40 NC State, #44 Memphis and #49 Oregon each put a considerable amount of pressure on the #1 seeds in their respective regionals before coming up just short in the end.

There were also several blowouts as Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Ohio State, UCLA, and South Florida each cruised in matches that took 2 hours or less.

The biggest comeback of the day took place in Austin as the #4 seed Texas Tech came back from 3-0 down to defeat the #3 seed Florida 4-3.

USC Rally Stuns Tulane, Denver Wins Thriller, USF Survives, #3 Seeds Dominate

The 2016 ITA Kick-Off Weekend kicked into overdrive today with action taking place at 13 different sites across the country. There was supposed to be tennis at all 15 regional sites but due to the winter weather hammering the East Coast play at Columbia and Wake Forest was pushed back a day so those 2 regionals will play Sunday and Monday.

While most of the matches were routine 4-0 or 4-1 wins there were a few barn burners with the most drama taking place in Los Angeles between USC and Tulane and in Columbus (OH) between Denver and South Carolina.

We'll start off in LA for the second round match between the host and #1 seed USC and the #3 seed Tulane. The Green Wave jumped USC in doubles and took the point in just 25 minutes with a 6-1 win at #1 and a 6-2 win at #3. Tulane kept the momentum going in singles by taking the opening set at 1, 2, 3, and 6 with USC getting no more than 3 games in each of those sets.

ITA Women: UCLA Stunned, Ohio State Claims 1st NTI Berth

14 of the 15 ITA Kickoff Regionals saw play today, with Cal struggling with rain for the second consecutive day. Five Regionals were completed with 3 No.1 seeds, a No.2 seed and a surprise No.3 seed claiming final victories to join Wisconsin at the ITA National Team Indoor, being held February 5-8 in Madison, WI.

#5 North Carolina Regional: Tar Heels Dominate Singles

The UNC Tar Heels, the reigning NTI champions, looked in good form today, blanking #48 Tulsa 4-0 to advance to Madison. UNC dropped only 10 games in their 5 completed first sets, with the No.4 match in a tiebreaker when play was called. Maria Akkerman was the star of the weekend, losing just three games in her two matches combined. Hayley Carter continued to impress this weekend and Whitney Kay did a complete 180 from yesterday to completely rout her ranked opponent. In the 3rd/4th playoff, #53 Marshall rallied from 1-3 down to take out #68 Yale, with the Herd claiming the win at No.1.

Blowouts Galore on Day 1 Of Men's KO Weekend + Weather Downs Cal

There were just 4 matches on the Friday's schedule and none of them were particularly close with USC, Tulane, Illinois, and Northwestern each rolling into the second round.

Tulane started off the day by really taking it to Pepperdine with the Green Wave cruising to the doubles point and then getting runaway singles wins from Dominik Koepfer, Sebastian Rey, and Chi-Shan Jao at 1, 4, and 6. 

USC sat its #1 Max DeVroome and still rolled to a 7-0 win over UC Davis in a match where all courts were played to conclusion which is something that I like to see. The only Trojan to drop a set was newcomer Laurens Verboven who dropped his opening set before rallying to win in 3-sets at #2 singles. 

ITA Women: Top Seeds Cruise In Friday's ITA Kickoff

Six of the ITA Kickoff Regionals began today and all No.1 seeds cruised without much difficulty. Fresno State was the lone No.3 seed to earn a scalp into tomorrow's final. UGA and UNC were the top 2 teams to play and routed Wyoming and Yale, respectively. The closest match of the weekend, ranking-wise, was No.18 Ohio State's 4-3 thriller over No.19 Pepperdine. Tomorrow should bring some tighter matches and a few upsets. For my predictions for the entire weekend, check out my preview here.

Men's Kick-Off Weekend Regional Previews

There will be 15 men's regionals taking place this weekend with 2 of the 15 getting started on Friday. I'll start off by previewing the USC and Illinois Regionals since they both start on Friday and I'll work my through all 15 of them by Friday evening. Keep checking back for updates since I'll just be adding on to this post. FYI, the numbers beside the school name are each player's current Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) as of 1/20/16. 

USC Regional (Fri/Sat) - Marks Stadium (no live scoring due to construction)

#57 UC Davis [4] at #8 USC [1] – 4pm est/1pm pst – USC Twitter - This will be the dual-match opener for USC with the Trojans expected to start at least 3 freshmen while UC Davis kicked off its season on Wednesday with a 4-0 loss at #18 Stanford. The Aggies return all 6 starters from last year's team including its top player #38 Alec Adamson who had a tremendous fall winning four matches over ranked opponents. I don't foresee UC Davis getting on the board in this one with USC just too strong top to bottom. Prediction: USC 4-0 (Result: USC 7-0)

Women's Kick-Off Weekend Regional Previews

Hi everyone! I’m super excited to contribute to College Tennis Today and hope to add on to the awesome work Bobby’s already done to give more light to college tennis. A lot of my knowledge and passion stems from the women’s side of the game and the reason I fell in love with the college game was being present for the #1 Georgia Tech vs #4 UGA battle in 2008. I was hooked ever since and follow all things college tennis – current players and in the pros. I hope to help Bobby with giving content for the women’s side of the game while he dominates what’s going on with the men. I’ll start off with my predictions for this weekend’s ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

Kick-Off Weekend Intro

I wrote a introduction for the upcoming 2016 ITA Kick-Off Weekend over on the ITA's site that talks about what regionals to keep an eye.

Down below I'll go into some more detail about those regionals to watch then over the next 24 hours keep an eye out for my in-depth preview into each men's regional along with my match predictions.

There are five men’s regionals where I could see the host potentially getting “upset”. In fact there are 2 regionals where I’d consider the host to be a long shot with #20 Texas and #23 Duke both in rebuilding modes after losing four starters off last year’s teams. Duke is starting three freshmen while Texas is starting one freshman and two sophomores that only saw limited action last year. Both have already lost once this season so for either to pull through they’ll need to step it up considerably. In my opinion a case could be made for any of the four in each regional due to how closely they are ranked. The four teams in the Austin regional are separated by just six spots in the most recent rankings (#15 Texas Tech, #17 Mississippi, #20 Texas, #21 Florida) while the four in Durham are separated by eight spots (#19 San Diego, #23 Duke, #26 Vanderbilt, #27 California).

2016 Season Preview - Baylor Bears

Last year felt like a season of destiny for Baylor with the Bears hosting the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history but unfortunately it wasn't to be as their season came to an end in the NCAA semifinals against a team they had already beaten twice earlier in the season.

Baylor head coach Matt Knoll is back for his 20th season but this one may be a little challenging after losing Mate Zsiga, Diego Galeano, and Tony Lupieri with the trio accounting for 37% of Baylor's dual-match wins last season. Knoll brought in two new recruits in the fall, Tommy Podvinski and Jimmy Bendeck, and one in January, Tomas Charlos, to help fill the void plus he'll have the services of Will Little after he took a redshirt season last year.

1/20 ITA Rankings Release

The newest rankings were released today and while there weren't many changes there were a few teams that made big jumps and some that made plunging falls.

I'll start out on the men's side and look at the teams that moved up at least 3 spots and then look at the teams that fell at least 3 spots with any notable results listed from the last 2 weeks through this past Sunday.

Movin' On Up:
#19 San Diego - up 3 spots - beat #70 UC Irvine 4-1
#21 Florida - up 3 spots - beat #64 Troy 4-1
#24 Tulsa - up 5 spots - beat #27 Cal 4-3
#45 Washington - up 17 spots - beat #20 Texas 4-3; lost to #48 UCSB 4-3
#48 UC Santa Barbara - up 6 spots - won at #45 Washington 4-3; lost to #20 Texas 6-1
#55 Kentucky - moved up at least 70 spots - won at #23 Duke 4-3
#67 Iowa - moved up 4 spots - beat then #70 Utah State 7-0
#69 Arkansas - moved up 3 spots - hasn't played yet

Wednesday Line-Up

We are just 2 days out from the start of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend but there are a few teams that want to get some last minute work in as extra preparations.

#10 Ohio State opens up its season today with a triple-header against Dayton, Butler, and Xavier with everyone on the roster most likely looking at getting some court time.

#20 Stanford opens up its season by welcoming in Sacramento State and #57 UC-Davis. Stanford is playing in one of the toughest KO regionals (Columbia/Virginia Tech/Minnesota) so it needs to be as sharp as possible if it wants to pull through.

#14 UCLA opens up its season by hosting #55 San Francisco after many of the Bruins saw action last weekend at the Sherwood Cup.

2016 Season Preview - Oklahoma Sooners

When you talk about the elite programs in college tennis Oklahoma is one of the first names that comes to mind and that's all thanks to the recruiting and player development that's been done by head coach John Roddick and his staff over the last 6 years. Roddick was hired on June 19, 2009 and since then OU has been on an upward trajectory winning 19, 16, 19, 21, 28, and 29 matches in each of the last 6 seasons.

After years of being an also-ran in the Big 12 behind the likes of Baylor, Texas, and Texas A&M, the Oklahoma Sooners are now the ones being chased after winning the conference tournament 3 of the last 4 years. In the same 4-year period OU has also claimed 3 regular season conference titles (2 shared), won the National Team Indoor Championships, and made it to the NCAA Championship finals in each of the last 2 years.

Rubin Sandwiches Paire, Georgia Finishes Strong, Pokes Walking in Memphis, Lenz Wins Sherwood

The big story of the day took place in the wee hours of the night here in the United States as former Wake Forest Demon Deacon #328 Noah Rubin (UTR 15.01) stunned #18 Benoit Paire (UTR 15.39) in 3 tiebreak sets in the opening round of the 2016 Australian Open. I'll be the first to admit I was sound asleep when the match took place but when my 3-year came barreling into our room at 6am one of the first things I did was pull up Twitter and that's when I saw the good news. I'll let these Twitter posts from Parsa, Martin Blackman, Josh Meiseles, Noah Rubin, and the Australian Open tell you the story

19-yo Noah Rubin earns his 1st tour-level win, beating [17] Paire 76(4) 76(6) 76(5) to reach the #AusOpen R64! American men go 3-1 on day 1!

— Parsa (@Smith_J1989) January 18, 2016

Monday Line-Up

Normally Mondays are a light day for college tennis but due to the Martin Luther King Holiday Weekend we get an extra day of tennis. The schedule for the day shows 5 matches between ranked opponents plus an intriguing one in the Boro between Nashville neighbors Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee State.

I think the best match of the day will be in Memphis as #45 Memphis opens up its season by hosting #28 Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State opened up its season on Friday by only dropping 1 set in a pair of 7-0 shutouts over UNLV and Creighton. Below are some comments from Memphis head coach Paul Goebel about bringing in a big time opponent:

"This is an exciting match for us," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "We have been training all fall with a really demanding schedule. We got back early to school and we're excited to get the season started. And to host Oklahoma State is big for us. They're very well-coached and Jay Udwadia has done an unbelievable job there. They've been in the top 25 and are one of the forces in the Big 12, which is one of the best conferences in the nation. So to have them coming to our place just a season after hosting Baylor, who was in the top five last year, is a big deal."

Kentucky Upsets #13 Duke, Washington Too Much for #12 Texas, Northwestern Rolls

Well that didn't take long - on the first weekend of the season a pair of Top 15 teams got upset as unranked Kentucky went into Durham and beat #13 Duke 4-3 and #62 Washington rebounded from a Friday loss to UCSB and knocked off #12 Texas by a 4-3 score. As I mentioned when the preseason rankings came out a week ago, the rankings didn't really take into account the number of starters that some teams lost and thus ranked a few of them way too high. Both Texas and Duke fell into that category because each team had to replace 4 starters and most of the replacements were freshman.

Anyway back to the day's events starting first in Durham. Duke and Kentucky battled it out in doubles with all 3 matches going back and forth. Kentucky went up an early double break at #1 and led 3-0 but Duke would claw back and end up taking it in a tiebreak. Duke had the break lead at #2 but lost it only to break late and take it 7-5. Duke also had the early break lead at #3 but Kentucky came back to forth a tiebreak which Duke ultimately won.

Sunday Line-Up

There's been a lot of great college tennis action over the last 2 days but there's still room for more as the MLK Holiday Weekend continues with 4 matchups between ranked teams.

#36 Louisville is fresh off a Friday sweep of #63 Troy and Dayton and be looking to run its record to 4-0 as it faces #26 Northwestern and Morehead State. I have a feeling that Northwestern's top 3 is going to be a little tough tough today and will help the Wildcats start off the season with a win. After the match Northwestern will hop back into the van and cruise back up to Chicago so they can play another match at 7pm central against Chicago State.

#24 Florida opens up its season with a doubleheader against #63 Troy and Stetson and I expect to see the Gators roll in both. Florida is a very talented team that was the coaches voted picked to finish second this season so they'll be a fun team to watch all season.

One of the most intriguing matches of the day will come in Durham. #13 Duke, fresh off a 6-1 season opening win over Elon, will host unranked Kentucky which opened up its season with a pair of routine wins on Friday over Eastern and Northern Kentucky. Duke's Nicolas Alvarez will be tough to beat at #1 but Kentucky may have the advantage at 2, 3, and 4 with newcomer Ryotara Matsuuara and junior Nils Ellefsen both playing extremely well. Beck Pennington didn't play at all on Friday so whether he plays in this one could be big.

Mercer Bears Down, Red Storm Overcomes the Hurricane, Arizona Upsets New Mexico

It has become customary over the last several years to see schools play doubleheaders against perceived "lighter" schools but very rarely do you ever see the bigger school actually lose one of these - until today. #64 Clemson and Mercer met in Charlotte for a doubleheader and after Clemson took the opener 4-0 Mercer turned the tables on them in the nightcap and stunned the Tigers 4-3. According to Mercer's recap it is the Bears first ever win against an ACC school although they had previous beaten Clemson but it was back in 1939 which was 14 years before the ACC was founded. 

Saturday Line-Up

Friday brought us several good ones and I expect Saturday to do the same with 7 matchups between ranked opponents highlighted by #16 Virginia Tech going to Tuscaloosa to face #65 Alabama and #54 UC Santa Barbara trying to make it to 2 big wins in as many days as it faces to #12 Texas out in Seattle.

Wake Forest opens its season against a pair of solid opponents, North Florida and East Tennessee State, and maybe we'll get to see Petros Chrysochos and Dennis Uspensky in action with the pair just joining the team. For more info about Wake Forest you can check out my season preview.

Another round of doubleheaders will take place in Lubbock between Texas Tech, New Mexico, Pacific, and Arizona with each team playing 6 dual-matches in a 4-day period.

William and Mary went on the road yesterday and beat Yale but today they'll have to try and beat another Ivy League school as they go to Harvard.

Live scoring links are listed below so follow along throughout the day - for a multi-frame scoreboard you can check out this page that I've been tinkering with - feedback welcome!

Tulsa Stuns Cal, UCSB Sparkles In The Emerald City, Louisville Too Tough For Troy, Sherwood Cup

The 2016 season is officially underway and it didn't take long to get our first upset as #29 Tulsa came storming back from 3-1 down to stun #21 Cal 4-3. Tulsa made 3 roster additions this week and all 3 newcomers played tonight but it was the experienced veterans that came through with the match on the line.

Tulsa got things started on the right foot by taking the doubles point with 6-4 wins at #1 and #3 but Cal still had to feel fairly confident going into singles with 5 of its 6 starters ranked in the ITA Top 90. Each team picked up three first sets and while Cal's Filip Bergevi, Billy Griffith, and Oskar Wikberg finished in straight sets only one of Tulsa's guys was able to do the same. Tulsa's Or Ram-Harel served for the match at #1 singles leading #3 Andre Goransson 7-6, 5-4 but he fell behind 30-40 after Goransson punished a second serve with a forehand winner. Goransson would get another look at a second serve but this time all he could do was float a backhand return long which brought up the deciding point at 40-all (no-ad). Ram-Harel stayed in control on the next point and closed out Goransson which gave Tulsa its first singles point and second of the match to cut Cal's lead to 3-2. 

Friday Line-Up

3 matches today between ranked teams with all 3 expected to be pretty close. Louisville is going to be starting a lot of new faces today so I wouldn't be surprised to see Troy come into the Ville and pull off the upset.

I guarantee you #13 Duke won't be overlooking Elon after the Phoenix stunned them 2 years ago. Despite having a young team I still expect to see Duke pull through because Elon is just as young after losing 3 of its top 4 from last year.

Cal and Tulsa ought to be a good one tonight and I'm sure it'll be played indoors which will give Tulsa a little bit of an advantage however I expect to see Cal take it with 5 ranked singles players starting in the lineup.

Live scoring links for today matches are below

2016 Season Preview - Cal Bears

When you think of ideal places to play college tennis the University of California in Berkeley has to be pretty high up on the list due to its strong academics, scenic views, and year-round mild climate. Cal has a recently renovated tennis facility, a tenured head coach, and is in one of the most fertile states for tennis but success in terms of conference and national titles has eluded them for years. The Bears have played second, third, and fourth fiddle to its in-state Pac-12 neighbors Stanford, USC, and UCLA for quite some time with Cal's last conference title coming all the way back in 1953 when the conference was known as the Pacific Coast Conference. Cal is 6-29 against the Big 3 since 2010 and the last time it beat all 3 in the same season was all the way back in 2005.

Despite its struggles against the heavy hitters this could be the season that Cal makes its mark because it'll be starting 5 ranked singles players which is something that has probably never happened before.

2016 Season Preview - Wake Forest Demon Deacons

When you're in the same conference as Virginia you know it's going to be an uphill battle to win a conference championship but Wake Forest has come as close to beating the 9-time defending champs as just about anyone else in the last few years. Wake has played for the conference championship in 2 of the last 3 seasons and one of the main reasons is because of its head coach Tony Bresky. The 1998 Western Illinois graduate was part of Brian Boland's staff during the years when the program went from an also-ran to a perennial powerhouse. Bresky learned how to recruit and put a team together and when he left Virginia after the 2010 season to take over as head coach at Cornell he immediately took the Big Red to new heights. In his one season at Cornell he led them to their first-ever Ivy League Championship, first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, and won 26 matches which blew away the schools previous best win mark of 20.

Bresky took over at Wake Forest in the fall of 2011 and with a fairly inexperienced roster he went 14-15 in his debut season but he turned things around in year two. Bresky guided the Deacs to a 20-9 record in the 2012-13 season, which was only the third time Wake had ever won 20 matches, and was named ACC Coach of the Year. Bresky had to replace his top 3 for the 2013-14 season and his young roster fought hard but they lost 8 matches that finished with a 4-3 score and ended up going 15-14 on the season.

What's Coming Up This Week

The dual-match doors have been unlocked and they are open for business - there will be 17 dual-matches this week between ranked teams plus I wouldn't be surprised to see an unranked team upset a ranked opponent.

The most intriguing matches in my opinion are #12 Texas at #62 Washington, #21 Cal at #29 Tulsa, Kentucky at #13 Duke, and #16 Virginia Tech at #65 Alabama. I'll be interested to see what lineups Texas puts out on Tuesday against some lighter foes in preparation for its trip to Seattle to face both UC Santa Barbara and Washington. Even though Kentucky is unranked I'd make their match against #13 Duke a toss-up. Duke has a lot of new faces that will be called upon to start in this one and Kentucky is coming off a strong showing against LSU, Memphis, and Florida Gulf Coast.

Alabama bulked up its roster in the off-season bringing in Mazen Osama (Fr), Grayson Goldin (FSU transfer), Matthew Rossouw (Tyler JUCO transfer), and Spencer Richey (Fr) so I think they'll be much improved this season. Virginia Tech better bring its A-game or it'll be a long trip back to Blacksburg. 

Also make sure you keep an eye on the Sherwood Cup and MLK Invitational. Oklahoma, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Georgia Tech will lock horns using a hidden-dual format while USC, UCLA, Stanford, and Baylor will be sending their best to Thousand Oaks for the Sherwood Cup.

Sunday Recap: Kentucky Finishes Strong, Sarkissian Wins Again, Futures Action Continues in CA & FL

The final day of the FGCU Invitational was cut short a little with LSU and Memphis leaving after doubles due to a 6-hour rain delay. Kentucky waited out the delay and played singles with the host Florida Gulf Coast with Kentucky winning 4 of 6 matches. Kentucky ended up the big winner during the 3-day tournament winning 15 of 21 singles matches and 6 of 10 doubles matches. Kentucky's Jake Stefanik, Gus Benson, and Kevin Lai each went 3-0 in singles while Ryotaro Matsamura went 2-0. Memphis's Ryan Peniston, Andrew Watson, Kai Lemke each went 2-0 as did LSU's Gabor Csonka.

Sunday Results Singles/Doubles
Kentucky 4-2/2-0
Memphis 0-0/2-1
LSU 0-0/1-2
FGCU 2-4/1-2

Kentucky & Memphis Dominate, Sarkissian Qualifies In Sydney, Huskies Sweep Seattle

Kentucky and Memphis were the big winners on Day 2 of the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational. Kentucky went 9-2 overall including 6-1 in singles with freshman Ryotaro Matsamura rolling for a second day in both singles and doubles. Memphis's Ryan Peniston knocked off  LSU's #78 Justin Butch in 2 close sets and Memphis freshman Chris Patzanovsky picked up a win over LSU's Tam Trinh. Sunday wraps up the tournament with each starting dual-match play in the coming weeks. Below the scores are quotes from 3 of the 4 coaches.

Saturday Results Singles/Doubles
Kentucky 6-1/3-1
Memphis 5-2/2-1
LSU 2-5/1-2
FGCU 1-6/1-3

LSU Shines in Florida, BYU Wins Opener, Vukic/Norrie/Sarkissian Win Down Under, Futures Action

LSU's guys were the top performers in Day 1 of the FGCU Invitational as they went 5-2 in singles and 2-1 in doubles. Kentucky had 2 freshmen make their debuts as Ryotaro Matsumura (14.08) won in straight sets over Memphis's Felix Rauch (12.63) while Enzo Wallart (13.17) lost a tough 3-setter to Memphis's Kai Lemke (13.38).

Friday Results Singles/Doubles
LSU 5-2/2-1
Kentucky 5-3/1-3
Memphis 3-4/2-1
FGCU 2-6/2-2

2016 Season Preview - Illinois Fighting Illini

Despite its early exit in Waco I'd still consider last season a success for Illinois because after years of playing second fiddle to Ohio State the Illini beat the Buckeyes not once, not twice, but three times. Illinois won its second Big Ten Tournament Championship in the last four years and won its first regular season Big Ten Championship since 2005 though they did have to share it with Ohio State and Minnesota. The first and third wins over Ohio State came in tournament play but the second win snapped the Buckeyes 97-match Big Ten regular season winning streak which dated back to 2005.

Brad Dancer enters his 11th season as head coach of the Illini and currently sits in second on the all-time wins list with 215 wins which is only 59 behind Craig Tiley's 274 (12 seasons).

Dancer returns half of his starting 6 from last year's team but he lost some solid contributors with Farris Gosea, Tim Kopinski, Ross Guignon, and Blake Bazarnik all departing. Those 4 accounted for 38% of the Illini's dual-match singles wins and were part of 53% of Illinois's doubles wins.

Last Few Invitationals, Dual-Season Starting, Pro Action Heats Up In LA

The dual-match season gets underway in a few places this weekend while there are still a few more weeks of individual play at other schools.

BYU opens its season tonight at 5:30pm MST against Southern Utah and Washington opens up on Saturday with a doubleheader against Seattle. Washington will have live scoring and streaming video available at this link.

Florida Gulf Coast hosts the FGCU Invitational with players coming from #30 LSU, #45 Memphis, and Kentucky.

Central Florida hosts the UCF Spring Invitational with players coming from Florida A&M and The Citadel.

ITA Releases First Rankings of 2016

Earlier today the ITA released its first team and individual rankings of the 2016 season. The individual rankings are based off the computer so therefore they had several big shakeups from the initial rankings which were based solely off last season's rankings with the seniors removed.

I did my own Top 20 and took into account roster additions and subtractions from last season while the first 6 team rankings are done by the ITA's National Ranking Committee with each voter probably knowledgeable on their region but not much outside it. I highlighted all the teams below that moved at least 4 spots from the final rankings of last season and put them in green if they went up and yellow if they went down.

My Preseason Men's Top 20

The ITA's first team rankings of the season should be out shortly so here is my top 20 along with a few questions for each team. I'm thinking that both Oklahoma and Baylor will have some January roster additions and Wake Forest should have their guys added in a few days. It seems like there are more teams counting on freshman this year than I can remember in the past. I can't see anyway that Virginia isn't the preseason #1 because they've got it all. Here is my top 20 - if you've done one yourself add yours to the comment section below - I'm sure we'll all have many differences and opinions.

1. Virginia - how well will they do without Mitchell Frank?
2. Oklahoma - top 5 is strong but who is going to play #6 - waiting to see January admits?
3. TCU - how well do Alex Rybakov and Eduardo Nava adjust to the college game?
4. Ohio State - can Herkko Pollanen play in the spring like he did the fall and can Martin Joyce hold his own?
5. Georgia - can Paul Oosterbaan be a force at 3 or 4 and how does Walker Duncan perform?

2016 Season Preview - South Florida Bulls

2015 was a historic season for South Florida with the Tampa-based Bulls making its first ever appearance in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. USF started playing tennis in 1966 (school founded in 1956) and prior to last season they had made the NCAAs 10 times (not bad) but had only managed to get past the first round on 5 occasions. Head coach Matt Hill was able to get his 2014 team into the second round (beat Florida State 4-2) but after dropping a tough doubles point to Florida, and then enduring a 3-hour rain delay, the Gators were just too strong in singles and shut them out 4-0.

The experience of making it to the second round had to give the team a belief that they belonged with the big boys but after winning its first 3 matches in 2015 the Bulls dropped 4 of its next 5.  The toughest loss of the 4 came when Penn State beat them 4-1 which denied them a shot at qualifying for the National Team Indoors for the first time in school history.  Instead of packing it in the team rallied and won 9 straight before losing a 4-3 heartbreaker at Tulsa. The Bulls would avenge that loss to Tulsa in the finals of The American Conference Tournament and rise to #18 but they'd just miss out on hosting a NCAA regional. South Florida traveled to Blacksburg for the Virginia Tech regional and after shutting out Boise State in the first round they'd surprisingly do the same to the host Hokies in the second round. South Florida drew Baylor in the Sweet Sixteen and stood toe to toe with the hosts before falling 4-1 (more on this match at the very bottom of this post).

SEC To Stream Again

When I was in Naples at the ITA Coaches Convention I heard someone mention that the SEC schools would be able to stream matches again this year after not being able to last year due to ESPN/SEC Network holding the streaming rights. I reached out to Tammy Wilson, the SEC's Director of Communications, and she told me that the SEC schools can stream tennis this year as long as the following guidelines are met.   

* Production must involve a multi-channel, multi-court offering for the viewer

* Distribution must take place via the institution's official athletic department website

* Any single-feed production will remain the property of SECN and be distributed via SECN+

* ESPN shall have the nonexclusive right to distribute highlights of any tennis event programs produced by SEC member institutions on any SEC-ESPN Platforms (or any other media)

* ESPN shall retain the nonexclusive right to produce and distribute any SEC tennis events (regardless of whether the SEC member institution is also producing their own program) for Distribution on any SEC-ESPN Platforms (or any other media)  

2016 Season Preview - North Carolina Tar Heels

North Carolina has a lot of tradition (been playing tennis since 1908) but prior to last season it had never made the NCAA quarterfinals in consecutive years. Sam Paul had to feel confident going into the 2015 season, due to having an experienced starting 6, but as the season rocked on the injury bug took turns biting his starters and some of his reserves. Throughout the course of the season Brayden Schnur (knee-7), Ronnie Schneider (shoulder-3), Esben Hess-Olesen (back-21), and Oystein Steiro (foot-11) would miss a combined 51 starts which meant Paul constantly had to shuffle both his singles and doubles lineups. Despite all the changes the Tar Heels still managed to win 24 matches including an upset of #4 Illinois in the Sweet Sixteen before losing a tough 4-1 match to TCU in the Elite 8.

Sam Paul is back for his 23rd season as head coach of the Tar Heels and with his top 5 singles starters returning (all ranked) he's probably hoping for a little smoother ride this year. Esben Hess-Olesen and Oystein Steiro both graduated so Paul will have to replace those 16 dual-match singles wins and his top 2 choices to do so are both freshmen. Anu Kodali, who was a Top 15 Blue Chip, picked up his first career ranked win when he beat NC State's #71 Simon Norenius at the Duke Bonk Invitational while Bo Boyden, a Top 25 5-star, posted a 4-4 singles record this fall. I'd say Kodali definitely has the inside track to the #6 spot with Boyden likely the first off the bench at #7.