3/1 Ranking Projections - New #1

Another week and another set of changes - this week's rankings use each team's 5 best wins after last week's used the best 4.

TCU should rise up to #3 after winning on the road at Wisconsin and Illinois while Oklahoma State should come up to #5 after beating South Florida at the Blue Gray.  Northwestern will move up to #9 thanks to five wins over top 30 opponents while it has just the one loss to Illinois.

Texas and Baylor will both make leaps into the top 15 after Texas won at #5 Wake Forest and Baylor beat #17 Memphis. Michigan will be up to #19 after a weekend sweep over #22 Tulsa and #28 Washington. Arkansas should move into the top 30 after winning at #10 Oklahoma on Sunday while Old Dominion will be just outside the top 30 after winning on the road at #25 NC State. Princeton should make a healthy jump after beating Auburn plus its road win over Penn is worth more points after the Quakers jumped into the top 75 last week.

Sunday Recap: TCU Too Good For Illini, Arkansas Stuns Oklahoma, Wake Topples Texas Tech, ODU Beats NCST

One day you're on the top of the mountain and the next day your toppling down the hill. Illinois took the court today against #8 TCU just 16 hours removed from its big win over #2 Virginia so you had to figure they'd have a tough time replicating the same energy in such a short span.

It was sunny and 65 degrees outside at match time but the 25-30 mile per hour wind gusts kept play indoors. I knew the crowd wouldn't be as big as Saturday night but I was impressed with the Sunday afternoon turnout of just over 400.

Illinois Stuns #2 Virginia, Texas Shocks #5 Wake Forest, UCLA Holds Off Stanford, Okie State Drills USF

Man oh man what a day of tennis it was - we had some blowouts, some upsets, and some really big shockers. College tennis action was played outside in sunny skies, outside in windy conditions, and indoors in calm conditions. I'll start off with the match that I attended in Champaign-Urbana between #11 Illinois and #2 Virginia.

The temperature in C-U was in the mid-40s so there wasn't any doubt about whether the match would be played inside or outside. After having my complementary piece of pizza I walked into the Atkins Tennis Center and within the first 60 seconds I found out that Virginia would be playing without its #1 Ryan Shane. I talked with Ryan for a minute just before doubles and he said he's had a few things bothering him for a while and it was decided that it would be best to rest until he's back to 100%. He obviously wanted to be out there playing but at the same time he knew he needed to take care of his body so he could compete at the highest level in the later stages of the season. So Virginia had to retool two of its three doubles pairings and move everyone up a spot in the singles lineup.

Saturday Preview - Oklahoma St/South Florida, UCLA/Stanford, Virginia/Illinois

#9 Oklahoma State (10-1) vs. #14 South Florida (7-3) (Montgomery, AL) - 1:30pm est/12:30pm cst - Live Scoring - These teams were originally slotted in opposite ends of the draw at the Blue Gray but a last minute change was made and they'll end up facing each other in the semis. Oklahoma State is coming off a 4-0 win over Alabama in a match that could have finished 4-3 because the Tide led on each of the three remaining courts. South Florida was challenged by Boise State on Friday but still won it 4-0 and it probably would have finished 7-0 had it been played out.

South Florida loves playing outdoors while Oklahoma State is probably a little better indoors so I think that may help determine the outcome. Both teams have played great doubles this season so that should be a tightly contested point.

SC Stomps Stanford, Michigan Tops Washington, Texas Tech Beats the Pack, & More

The featured match of the day took place in Palo Alto with Stanford hosting USC in a non conference matchup. Stanford had dropped the doubles point in three consecutive matches and it didn't get off to the best start after USC's Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine picked up a quick 6-2 win at #3. However a short while later Stanford's Nolan Paige and David Wilczynski would win 6-3 at #2 and then Tom Fawcett and Maciek Romanowicz sealed the doubles point with a 6-4 win at #1.

USC quickly turned things around in singles by taking five opening sets and Nick Crystal needed just over an hour to finish off David Wilczynski 6-3, 6-1 at #2. Stanford would end up being just as dominant in the second set as USC was in the first because the Cardinal took four second sets while USC's Jack Jaede forced a split at #5.

Weekend Preview (2/26-28)

I highlighted some of the top matches of the weekend in a post I did on the ITA's site and below I'll go over all the rest.

The featured match of the day on Friday takes place in Palo Alto between last season's Pac-12 co-champions #29 Stanford and #13 USC. This is a non-conference match, with the official conference match coming on April 2 in LA, though it's a match both teams want and a match that Stanford really needs. Stanford has dropped the doubles point three matches in a row and if they lose it again today I think it's looking at a fourth straight loss. If Stanford takes the doubles point I think it picks up its first win since beating Santa Clara back on February 2nd.

UNCW Clips #25 NC State & Memphis Holds Off SMU

North Carolina State returned to the top 25 this week and had four matches scheduled for the weekend with two of them ranked opponents. However the Pack may have been caught looking ahead to Friday's showdown with #6 Texas Tech because this afternoon it was upset by unranked UNC Wilmington 4-3.

Despite being an upset in terms of ranking, it wasn't a surprise in terms of recent history because this was actually the third time in the last four meetings that the Seahawks have clipped the Wolfpack.

UNCW won a tightly contested doubles point with both #1 and #3 going to tiebreaks. UNCW won 6-2 at #2 and when Xander Veys/Javier Restrepo and pulled it out 7-6(4) at #1 the Seahawks had the crucial doubles point.

Blue Gray NTC, BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge, & National Alumni Championships

I wanted to make a mention of a couple of events that are coming up over the next few months with one of them getting started tomorrow (Friday).

Six men's and six women's teams will converge on Montgomery, Alabama for the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic. The Classic stated all the way back in 1949 and has evolved over the years from an individual event to a team event. One of the things that makes this such a unique event are the host families that take in the teams every year. The players and coaches love coming to Montgomery which is why several teams have been participating in this event for years and will likely keep coming back. There are a slew of positives testimonials that you can read over which talk about all the finer points of the weekend experience.

Catherine Isip's Lucky Gamble Pays Off

Catherine Isip graduated from Saint Mary's College in 2013 with a degree in Sports Management

by Joey Dillon

Catherine Isip had a junior tennis career most would dream of. She was named a Top 10-blue chip recruit out of Southern California and was on the radar for a number of top schools. A twist of fate

2/23 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release

Cal stays at #1 in the first computer rankings of the year while Ohio State came up three spots to #2 and Michigan came up five spots to #3.

As a reminder these rankings are based off last week's rankings, which were done by the rankings committee, so I'd expect to see a lot more shifting next week too. This week the computer used each team's 4 best wins but for the next 3 weeks it'll use each team's 5 best wins.

2/23 Oracle/ITA Men's Rankings Release

The first computer rankings of the year are out with the ACC occupying three of the top five spots. North Carolina is sitting pretty comfortably at #1 with a nine point lead over #2 Virginia though Virginia has an almost eleven point lead over Ohio State.

As a reminder these rankings are based off last week's rankings, which were done by the rankings committee, so I'd expect to see a lot more shifting next week too. This week the computer used each team's 4 best wins but for the next 3 weeks it'll use each team's 5 best wins.

2/23 Rankings Projection

When the new ITA rankings come out tomorrow it'll be the first computer poll of the season after the ranking committee voted on all the polls up until this point. Usually there are some pretty big changes after the computers take over because teams are now ranked on what they've actually done as opposed to being ranked on its reputation.

Anyone with enough free time can calculate the rankings using the ITA's formula though I don't recommend it because it is highly timely consuming.  There's always a chance I made a calculation error somewhere but by and large they are usually pretty close. These 2/23 rankings utilize each team's 4 best wins (with best being determined by who gives you the most ranking points).  Road wins are given a 10% bonus so beating the 65th ranked team on the road would get your more points than beating the 64th ranked team at home.

Sunday Recap: Texas A&M Wins At Illinois, Ohio State Outlasts Florida, Memphis Wins in Oxford, & More

Texas A&M had been on the road for the last week and a half, and had lost its last three, but it managed to come from behind today to beat Illinois 4-2 despite playing without one of its top starters. Texas A&M senior Shane Vinsant missed today's match against Illinois due to a blister on his foot but the Aggies managed to stay focused in his absence and the team performed much better in singles than it did in doubles. The weather was right around 50 degrees outside but they played it indoors anyway. I was a little surprised at the lighter turnout of around 175 because I've been to Atkins in the past for some big matches and have seen well over 500 on hand.

Sunday Preview - Texas A&M at Illinois

#7 Texas A&M (10-3) at #12 Illinois (6-3) - 1pm est/12pm cst - Texas A&M comes into this one having dropped three in a row after starting 10-0 while Illinois has split its last four though it dropped two of three during the National Indoors. As has been the case all season, Illinois has been relying on the top of its lineup to get it done with the bottom struggling to come through. The doubles point is going to be essential for the Illini because without it I really don't see them winning.

Doubles record: Illinois 5-4 (4-0 at home), Texas A&M 11-2 (1-1 away)
Indoor record: Illinois 6-3 (4-0 at home), Texas A&M 2-3 (1-1 away)

Saturday Recap: Cal Wins The Big Slam; Penn State Still Unbeaten, Mississippi State Rides the Wave

It was Big Slam Saturday at The Farm and as expected Cal and Stanford gave us another 4-3 classic. Last season each team won at the other's place and this year is starting off the same after Cal gutted out a 4-3 win in a match that took 3 hours and 59 minutes.

The 52-minute doubles point was extremely tight with breaks hard to come by at both #1 and #3. Cal's #2 team of Andre Goransson and Billy Griffith jumped out to a 5-2 lead but Stanford's Nolan Paige and David Wilczynski would come back and take five straight to win it 7-5.

The match at #1 stayed on serve until Stanford's Maciek Romanowicz double faulted on match point at 30-40 to give Cal's Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat the 7-5 win.

Big Slam Preview - Cal at Stanford

The big match of the day on Saturday takes place in Palo Alto as #22 Stanford hosts #18 Cal in the "Big Slam" Part 1. This will be a non-conference matchup with the official conference matchup taking place in Berkeley on April 16. Last season the teams met three times with Stanford taking two of the three by winning at Cal and in Ojai in the Pac-12 semis.

The first meeting in Berkeley was a wild 4-3 win by Stanford that saw Maciek Romanowicz come back from 5-2 down in the third to beat JT Nishimura 7-5 in the deciding match. Cal took the second meeting 4-3 when Billy Griffith held off Nolan Paige 6-4 in the third in the deciding match. Stanford won the rubber match 4-1 at the Pac-12 Tournament in a match that was extremely tight.

Cal is coming off a tremendous pair of wins over #3 TCU and #24 Texas while Stanford is coming off gut wrenching losses to those same two teams.

Friday Recap: Ohio St Hammers A&M, Nwestern Overwhelms NCST, OKST survies GAST

Sometimes rematches result in different outcomes and sometimes they don't - tonight's Ohio State/Texas A&M match in Columbus turned out to be the latter. These teams met just five days ago in the National Indoors consolation rounds with Ohio State pulling out a 4-3 squeaker but this evening it was all Buckeyes.

Last week Texas A&M won the doubles point, though Herkko Pollanen didn't play, but tonight with Pollanen playing at #1 with Mikael Torpegaard they and the team cruised past A&M.

Ohio State swapped Martin Joyce and Ralf Steinbach at #5 and #6 and Hugo Di Feo and Chris Diaz at #2 and #3. Texas A&M swapped Jordi Arconada and Shane Vinsant at #2 and #3 which meant both of those matchups stayed the same from the previous meeting. Harrison Adams also returned to the lineup tonight after sitting out on Sunday. (box score from last week is below tonight's box score)

Weekend Preview (2/19-21)

It's the first weekend after the National Indoors but there is no time for slowing down. Texas A&M is back on the road and is in Columbus tonight for a rematch against Ohio State (Buckeyes won 4-3 last Sunday) and then on Sunday it'll be in Champaign to face Illinois (I might make it to this one).

There are 7 ranked versus ranked matches on Friday highlighted by #7 A&M and #6 Ohio State but that #50 Indiana/#37 Oregon match has a lot of potential too.

#55 South Carolina and #17 San Diego will be in Tampa this weekend to play each other and #14 South Florida. San Diego and South Florida just played last Sunday in a NTI consolation match with USF winning 4-2.

My Top 25 - Week of 2/15 + My NTI Recap

We are three days removed from North Carolina's stunning win over Virginia but I went back and recapped the whole weekend in an article that I did for the Tennis Recruiting Network. If you haven't already seen it give this link a click.

Here are is my top 25 based off what I've seen so far - I have notable wins and all losses listed for reference. The number inside [ ] is where I had them last week.

1. North Carolina (10-0) [5] - won at Virginia, UCLA, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Illinois. Tar Heels won the National Team Indoors in unbelievable fashion beating Virginia in Charlottesville. Next decent sized matchup comes on March 11th when UNC goes to Tallahassee to play Florida State.

2/17 ITA Rankings Release

The post NTI Oracle ITA men's rankings are out and North Carolina is sitting pretty at #1 after winning the title. Since there weren't any published rankings last week we saw a good bit of movement throughout the Top 75 and also a lot of movement within the Top 10.

Both UCLA and Wake Forest came up five spots to #4 and #5 while Texas A&M dropped four spots to #7. Oklahoma and USC each dropped three spots to #8 and #9 while Texas Tech entered the top 10 at #10.

#56 Wisconsin made the biggest jump by coming up 18 spots from #74 after winning at then #23 Minnesota.

2016 National Team Indoors All Tournament Team

After a tremendous weekend of tennis in Charlottesville it is time to hand out some more hardware. Below is my College Tennis Today National Team Indoors All-Tournament Team along with guys that earned honorable mention. Now just to be clear, this isn't the official ITA NTI All-Tournament team (which will probably be released on Wednesday/Thursday) although I expect the coaches to agree with what I have listed.

The All-Tournament MVP and three of the six singles selections came from North Carolina while Virginia had two guys and UCLA had one. I also listed guys that earned honorable mention but I couldn't find anyone at #3 singles to fit the bill because it seemed like everyone had at least one loss or not enough finished matches.

North Carolina Comeback Stuns Virginia

North Carolina has done it - they've snapped Virginia's 140-match ACC winning streak and they did it in Charlottesville in the finals of the National Team Indoors. It what will go down as one of the all-time classics, North Carolina came back from dropping the doubles point and four first sets to defeat #1 Virginia 4-2.

(Picture Courtesy of North Carolina)

Men's National Team Indoor Championship Preview - Virginia vs. North Carolina

When Virginia and North Carolina step on the court at 11am it'll be the first time ever that a pair of ACC schools will play for the Men's National Team Indoor Championship. It's North Carolina first appearance in the finals while Virginia will be making its sixth final in the last eight years and seventh overall.

Virginia has owned North Carolina over the last 10 years winning the last 15 matches with North Carolina's last win coming back on April 14th, 2006 (4-3 at UNC). Of course to be fair I have to mention that Virginia has won 140 straight matches against ACC schools with its last loss coming to Duke at the ACC Tournament in April of 2006. 

North Carolina To Meet Virginia For All The ACC Marbles

In the first semifinal of the day North Carolina advanced to its first-ever final at the National Team Indoors after coming from behind to beat UCLA 4-2.

North Carolina didn't take the easy way though after dropping the doubles point for the second time in three matches this weekend. UCLA's new #3 team of Maxime Cressy and Karue Sell knocked off Blaine Boyden and Ronnie Schneider 6-3. Cressy/Sell broke UNC on the deciding point to go up 3-1 then held for 4-1. The teams exchanged holds until UCLA held from 40-15 to win 6-3.

North Carolina answered by winning at #2 doubles as Jack Murray and Brayden Schnur defeated Gage Brymer and Austin Rapp 6-4. Murray/Schnur broke UCLA to go up 2-1 and later on Schnur hit a clutch ace on the deciding point to extend the lead to 4-2. Each team held the rest of the way with Schnur serving it out to win 6-4.

Men's National Team Indoors - Semifinals Preview

[3] North Carolina (8-0) vs. [7] UCLA (7-1) - 12pm est - North Carolina is coming off a pretty thorough 4-2 win over Ohio State while UCLA rode the wave of momentum to get past Texas A&M 4-2. It'll be interesting to see if either team makes a change at the bottom of the singles lineup after each team's #6 took it on the chin yesterday. I think UNC probably sticks with Kodali since he had a pretty convincing win the previous day while I look for Billy Martin to give Austin Rapp another try at #6 after Joey Di Giulio came up well short yesterday against Lunkin.

Overall Record: North Carolina 8-0, UCLA 7-1

Indoors Record: North Carolina 8-0, UCLA 2-1

Doubles Record: North Carolina 6-2, UCLA 7-1

Women: #6 Ohio State Outlasts #5 Vanderbilt

I was fortunate enough to return to the Varsity Tennis Center to watch The Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in an all-Top 6 matchup.

The Buckeyes, coming off of their stellar ITA Indoor debut, hosted a rematch against reigning NCAA champions Vanderbilt. OSU, then-#16, upset the top-ranked Commodores 4-3 in the NTI quarterfinals with Miho Kowase defeating Courtney Colton 6-4 in the third set. The Buckeyes moved to another program-high (No.6) ranking this week, while VU dropped to No.5. Another tight encounter was expected and the match was a 3.5 hour battle between two teams that could vie for the NCAA title.

Virginia and TCU Survive To Fight Another Day

It was definitely a day of thrillers as both Virginia and TCU each won 4-3 matches that came down to a close third set to decide the match.

Virginia came into its match against ACC foe Wake Forest riding an incredible 139-match conference winning streak but the streak would come oh so close to ending.

Wake Forest came out and claimed the doubles point by winning both #1 and #3 doubles in a tiebreak. Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim posted a 7-0 shutout in the tiebreak at #1 while Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky won the deciding tiebreak at #3 by taking it 7-3. Both Bogaerts and Uspensky really went after JC Aragone in the tiebreak as the Virginia junior dropped four straight points to put UVA in a 5-2 hole.

UNC & UCLA Move On To the Semifinals

We now know what one of the semifinals will be at the 2016 Men's National Team Indoor Championships after #7 North Carolina overpowered #8 Ohio State 4-2 and #9 UCLA took control late to beat #2 Texas A&M 4-2.

In the opening match of the day North Carolina jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by doing something that no other team had been able to do to Ohio State this season - take the doubles point.  Ohio State came into the match with a perfect 9-0 record in doubles but North Carolina took the point fairly comfortably with a 6-2 win at #1 and a 6-4 win at #2.

Men's National Team Indoors - Quarterfinals Preview

[3] North Carolina (7-0) vs. [6] Ohio State (9-0)  - 9am est - The opening quarterfinal of the day should be a dandy with Ohio State come off a 4-0 rout of Baylor while North Carolina overcame Texas Tech 4-1. North Carolina may be the higher ranked team but I think Ohio State is the team to beat on the bottom of the draw. Ohio State has been downright dominant in doubles over the years and this year is no different with the Buckeyes a perfect 9-0.

Overall Record: North Carolina 7-0, Ohio State 9-0

Indoors Record: North Carolina 7-0, Ohio State 9-0

Doubles Record: North Carolina 5-2, Ohio State 9-0

Trojans Rally Past the Bulls, Wake Doubles Up OU, TCU Hammers Illinois,Hoos Up Next

The second half of the day kicked off with USC playing South Florida on the stadium courts while TCU and Illinois duked it out on the back six.

South Florida knew it needed the doubles point to give itself a chance to win and it took the point with a 6-0 rout at #3 and a 6-3 win at #2.

Bruins Bounce the Bulldogs, Aggies Tame the Lions, Buckeyes Roll the Bears, UNC Gives Red Raiders the Heel

The action is heating up in Charlottesville with half of the day's Round of 16 matches already in the books. The first two matches of the day didn't have a ton of suspense as #8 Ohio State ran over #4 Baylor 4-0 and #7 North Carolina overcame the loss of the doubles point to beat #14 Texas Tech 4-1.

The second set of matches though were both thrillers with #3 Texas A&M holding off hard charging #14 Columbia 4-2 and #9 UCLA coming back from 3-2 down to beat #11 Georgia 4-3.

UCLA head coach Billy Martin wasn't exactly looking forward to another match with Georgia despite the Bruins success versus them two weeks ago, "I thought there were a couple of teams we might face in the opening round but Georgia wasn't one of them and I wasn't necessarily looking forward to seeing them again. I knew Manny would have them ready for us and knew it'd be a tough match and it was."

Men's National Team Indoors - Round of 16 Previews

The draws are out and the lineups are set for the 2016 ITA Men's National Team Indoor Championships with play getting started on Friday at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. Play gets started each day at 9am eastern and finishes each night around 9 to 10pm.

I'm going to preview each round of 16 match using the master lineups that each team submitted and I'll make my predictions as well. With this being an indoor event I'll also take into account which teams are comfortable playing indoors while others only play indoors a handful of times each season.

There will be live scoring on all 12 courts but only point-by-point scoring on courts 7-12. The same goes for streaming video in that it will only be available on courts 7-12 too.

2/10 Women's Rankings Released Along With Men's Singles/Doubles

The post NTI women's rankings are out and as expected Cal is the new #1 after winning its first-ever team national championship. The previous #1, Vanderbilt, fell 4 spots to #5 after suffering a quarterfinals loss to Ohio State with the Buckeyes themselves rising 10 spots from #16 to #6.

The individual rankings for both the women and men were released as well with several guys and gals entering for the first time with many previously unranked due to not playing in the fall.

Tulane's Dominik Koepfer and Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski stayed at #1 and #2 in the men's singles rankings while Stanford's Tom Fawcett rose from #9 to #3 after picking up wins over #6 Cameron Norrie (TCU), #13 Joao Monteiro (VT), #69 Freddy Gelbrich (SDSU), and #81 Alec Adamson (UCD).

Men's National Indoor Draws & Lineups Are Out + Virginia Rolls Over UCLA 6-1

The draws have been released for this year's Men's National Team Indoors and while most of the teams were slotted where I expected there were a few surprises.

I expected Ohio State and UCLA to pass USC based off each picking up top 20 wins last week but the committee kept USC in front despite its best win this year being against #22 Florida.

I thought a two loss Baylor, with a best win over #42 Oregon, would fall behind a one loss Illinois with the Illini having wins over #21, #25, #36 (2X) and the one loss coming to #3 North Carolina - I'd love to hear the logic on keeping Baylor that high.

I thought South Florida may drop one spot after losing to Texas A&M but they held firm at #13 - can't argue too much with this one because it was a 4-3 loss to a #3 team.

Tuesday Preview - #9 UCLA vs. #1 Virginia

There's going to be a ton of good tennis this weekend in Charlottesville with Virginia hosting the National Team Indoors but I think the best matchup of the week might be tonight with Virginia hosting #9 UCLA. I have these teams as #1 and #2 in my rankings and I expect that this will be a very, very good match with plenty of courts going three sets.

This will be Virginia's first real test of the season while UCLA has been tested a few times but this will be the first time that the Bruins have played indoors. The doubles point will be more crucial for UCLA because it's going to be hard enough to win three singles matches over Virginia let alone four.

Here is an article from the Daily Bruin talking about the match from a Bruin standpoint and here is one from the Daily Progress coming from the Virginia standpoint. Virginia will also be down one usual starter with last season's #5 Alexander Ritschard recovering from a shoulder injury.

Let's dive into the numbers and see what they say.

Cal Claims 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoor Title

Defending champion North Carolina threw everything it had at Cal but the Golden Bears captured its first-ever team National title at the 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoor Championships. The tournament came down to No.5 singles with Olivia Hauger outlasting Marika Akkerman, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

Cal holding the ITA NTI trophy, its first in program history © ITA

2/10 ITA Top 20 Projections + My Top 20 + Computer Top 20 + UTR Top 20

Since it's the week of the National Team Indoors the ITA doesn't publish its rankings so I'll give you a couple of different versions to mull over while we wait for the NTI draw to come out on Tuesday night.

First I'll start off with what I think the ITA Top 20 will look like based off last week's rankings and taking into account any results from last week. Secondly, I'll have my own personal top 20 based off what I've seen so far. Then, I'll have what the computer top 20 would look like if each team's best 2 wins were used (first computer rankings in 2 weeks will use the best 4 wins). Lastly I'll show you what the UTR Top 20 looks like.

Cal Stuns TCU, UNC Takes Out OU, Texas Hooks Stanford, Bucks Blank Hokies

Some days things go your way and some days they don't - for TCU, Oklahoma, and Stanford it was the latter while Cal, North Carolina, and Texas walked away with big smiles on its faces.

Cal got punched in the gut when it couldn't participate in the Kick-Off Weekend due to weather but they made up for it this weekend in spades with wins over #26 Texas and #2 TCU.

Both Cal and TCU played physical matches on Saturday with each getting pushed by its opponents but while Cal bounced back TCU wasn't able to keep up the Bears.

TCU pulled out the doubles point for the second day in a row with wins at #2 and #3 but Cal got humming in singles and took opening sets at #2, #3, #4, and #6.

ITA Women's NTI Championship Set: California vs. North Carolina

The 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoor Championship is set with #6 California taking on the defending champions, #5 North Carolina. Both teams escaped close wins and tomorrow's final should be a real enticing encounter. Doubles will be a big point for either team and Cal will be focused on its first-strike tennis to gather momentum. North Carolina has been in this situation before and I think they''ll use their experience to wear down and overwhelm the Bears. Any player on both teams can take the match and I'm not the most confident in my predictions. The matchup is essentially a coin flip.

Jonathan Kelley from On The Rise be recapping with his thoughts and quotes at ZooTennis later tonight and will be covering tomorrow's final as well.

Sunday Preview - Cal/TCU, Ohio State/Va Tech, UNC/OU, Texas A&M/South Florida

#5 Oklahoma (3-1) at #7 North Carolina (5-0) - 1pm est - Live Scoring & Video - Oklahoma is coming off a 5-2 win at #63 Alabama on Friday while North Carolina last played a week ago when it shutout #12 Illinois 4-0. The Sooners really have missed the presence of its #2 Andrew Harris (14.76) who has been sidelined for a while with knee tendinitis and without him they've had to make adjustments to both the singles and doubles lineups. Axel Alvarez comes into this match having lost two straight and the team has dropped the doubles point in two straight matches. North Carolina has been battling some injuries as well though both Brayden Schnur (tendinitis) and Ronnie Schneider (ankle) have continued to play but their results have been just so-so (2-3). 

Gustav The Great Saves Ole Miss, TCU Wins Battle Over Stanford, Cal Fights Off Texas

Saturday was a day for some great tennis in the state of Texas with Ole Miss winning a thriller over Baylor in Waco while TCU and Cal won battles over Stanford and Texas in Austin.

Ole Miss came into the match having only played 3 times all season while Baylor was playing its 5th match in the last 8 days. Baylor got off to a hot start in doubles and at one point led 5-1 at #1, 3-0 at #2, and 4-2 at #3 but unbelievably they'd only get 1 more game between the 3 courts combined. Julian Lenz and Will Little got that 1 game and finished off the match at #1 winning 6-2 but Ole Miss started chipping away at the deficit everywhere else. The Rebel's #3 team of Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton won 4 straight game to close out Felipe Rios and Jimmy Bendeck 6-4. The biggest momentum shift in that one came when Ole Miss was serving at 4-4, 15-40 and they managed to come back and get the hold. Moments later Stefan Lindmark and Ricardo Jorge completed their comeback by winning the final 6 games at #2 to win 6-3.

Women's NTI Semifinals Set: Ohio State Stuns Vanderbilt

Saturday's action is complete at the 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoors and the semifinals are set with #16 Ohio State playing #6 Cal and #5 North Carolina facing off against #2 Georgia. Ohio State had the stunner of the year taking out the reigning NCAA champions Vanderbilt, while the rest of the remaining teams lived up to their seeding.

Again, I'd like to thank Jonathan Kelley from On The Rise for his tweets and coverage at the NTI. You will be able to check out his thoughts and quotes at ZooTennis later tonight.

Saturday Preview - Stanford/TCU & Ole Miss/Baylor

#18 Stanford (5-1) vs. #2 TCU (2-0) - (Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge - Austin) - 12pm est/11am cst - Live Scoring - Stanford is coming off back-to-back shutouts of Santa Clara and San Diego State while TCU hasn't played since squeaking out a 4-3 win over Oklahoma State during the Kick-Off Weekend two weeks ago. Stanford missed out qualifying for the National Indoors since it lost to Columbia 4-3 so this weekend is a chance for the Cardinal to pick up a couple of ranked wins. TCU is looking to use this weekend to toughen up some more before going to Charlottesville for the NTIs.

Doubles Records: Stanford 6-0, TCU 1-1

Women's NTI Day 1: Top 4 Seeds Blank Out Opponents

I'll gladly take a solid 6/8 correct on Day 1 with one match going 4-3 and the other a match I thought would be as tight as it could get.

I think the story of the day was how competitive doubles was for nearly every match. Three of the eight doubles points were decided by a tiebreaker (Vanderbilt/Duke, Ohio State/Fresno State and Virginia/Texas A&M). With the 6-game, no-ad scoring format, does doubles have the same psychological effect on teams after a close point? Jonathan Kelley from On The Rise is covering the event for ZooTennis and you can read his recap with quotes here.

Someone in the comments pointed out how Florida, Stanford, USC and Baylor elected to skip the NTI to schedule their own tough matches and prepare differently for the off-season. Should teams who skip be penalized come NCAA seeding time and does it put an asterisk next to the champion's name? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Texas A&M Survives, UCLA Wins Big, Duke Gets A Road W, Memphis Wins Again

It's been a busy week so far for Texas A&M after the Aggies knocked off #4 Baylor just two nights ago and with another big match on the horizon on Sunday against #13 South Florida it's possible they got caught looking ahead. #28 Florida State came to College Station on Friday night and gave A&M all it wanted before "Artillery" Arthur Rinderknech saved the day with a big win at #1 singles.

Texas A&M captured the doubles point with 6-3 wins at #2 and #3 and then each team picked up three first sets in singles. Texas A&M's AJ Catanzariti and Max Lunkin put the Aggies up 3-0 after they each picked up a straight set win over one of the Whitehurst brothers at #5 and #6 singles. Florida State answered with straight sets wins from Michael Rinaldi and Aziz Dougaz at #3 and #4 and then Marco Nunez tied it up at 3-3 with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 upset win over Shane Vinsant at #2.

Thursday Recap: Go Tigers Go, Stangs Top the Islanders

Going into last night's match Memphis had dropped 14 of its last 15 against Vanderbilt with its last win over Vandy coming back in 2012. Now they can say they've taken split the last four meetings after coming away with a 5-2 win on Thursday night.

Memphis took the doubles point with wins at #2 and #3 and then took three opening sets in singles with five singles matches in progress at the five court indoor facility. Ryan Peniston was first off the court with a 6-2, 6-2 win at #2 and then Kai Lemke made it 3-0 Tigers with a 6-2, 7-6 win at #4. Vandy's Daniel Valent put the Commodores on the board with a 7-6, 6-1 win at #1 but a short while later Felix Rauch clinched it with a 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 win at #5.

What's Coming Up

There's a lot of quality matches on the schedule this weekend with eight top 25 matchups taking place plus there's another half dozen or so that will be very intriguing.

Below I've listed the ones that I'll especially be keeping a close eye on because while most of the higher ranked teams should win there are a couple of 4-3 ones in the bunch.

#13 South Florida leaves the state for the first time this season as it goes to #23 Minnesota to play indoors then heads to College Station on Sunday to play #3 Texas A&M outdoors. South Florida is a good bit better than Minnesota but the Bulls don't play indoors often so it'll be interesting to see if the Gophers can put the home court advantage to work. Tennis Atlantic's Jeff McMillan will be on site so keep an eye on his twitter account for the occasional video clip.

ITA Women's National Team Indoor Preview

The second-largest team tournament in collegiate tennis behind the NCAAs is the ITA National Team Indoor event. 15 schools advanced in Kick-Off Regionals to join host Wisconsin in Madison in the prestigious event that lasts from Friday through Monday. Last year, North Carolina dropped only 2 points in its 4 matches to clinch its 2nd title in 3 years. Lots of questions come into the tournament - can UNC match its title run after two of its three stars left? Can Vanderbilt show the world that its NCAA title isn't a fluke? Will UGA turn its consistency into a national title? Will a new team emerge from Madison as a top-tier team?

Aggies Win in Waco & MTSU Mashes The 'Ville

In a battle of top 5 teams (according to the ITA rankings) it was #3 Texas A&M rolling over #4 Baylor on Wednesday night in Waco. Baylor was 20-1 inside the Hawkins Indoor Center coming into this one but now drops to 20-2 after Texas A&M pulled away and won 4-2.

Baylor's Julian Lenz and Will Little cruised to a 6-2 win at #1 doubles but Texas A&M took the point with a 6-1 win at #2 and a 6-4 win at #3. Texas A&M's Max Lunkin and Jordi Arconada had a 4-2 lead at #3 but Baylor's Felipe Rios and Jimmy Bendeck held and then broke on the deciding point to even it at 4-4. Bendeck went up 40-30 on his serve but Lunkin hit a volley winner and then Rios watch a screamer go past him that landed well inside the line to make it 5-4 A&M. Lunkin then held from 40-15 to seal the doubles point for Texas A&M.

2/3 ITA Rankings Release

The newest rankings were released today with 8 of the top 10 teams getting shuffled around. The two teams not to move were Virginia who stayed at #1 and Ohio State who stayed at #8. TCU came up from #3 to #2 after Oklahoma lost to Wake Forest on Sunday. Oklahoma dropped from #2 to #5 after the loss which meant that both Texas A&M and Baylor slid up one spot each to #3 and #4. USC is up two spots from #8 to #6 after beating Florida, North Carolina came up three spots from #10 to #7 after beating Illinois, UCLA came up three spots from #12 to #9 after beating Georgia, and Wake Forest came up one spot after beating Oklahoma and losing to Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State made the biggest jump inside the top 50 by coming up 8 spots from #25 to #17 after convincingly beating both Wake Forest and Minnesota last weekend.

Michigan was the biggest riser overall by coming from unranked all the way up to #54 after beating both Princeton and Cornell during the Big Ten/Ivy League Challenge last weekend at the USTA National Tennis Center.

Wednesday Preview - #4 Texas A&M at #5 Baylor

There's a big top 5 showdown taking place tonight in Waco as #5 Baylor hosts in-state and former Big 12 rival #4 Texas A&M with first serve going up at 6pm central. Neither team has faced a top 25 opponent yet though Baylor was tested during the Kick-Off Weekend by Oregon.

#4 Texas A&M (4-0) at #5 Baylor (5-0) - 7pm est/6pm cst – Live Scoring/Live Blog/Live Video (Indoors) - This will be Texas A&M's first match since its Kick-Off Weekend wins over Fresno State and Boise State while Baylor is coming off wins over Midwestern State (D2), Prairie View A&M (SWAC), and Incarnate Word (Southland). This will be the first meeting between the two since they played in the Round of 16 at the 2014 National Team Indoors in Houston. Baylor won that meeting 4-3 but Julian Lenz is the only current member that was part of that team while Harrison Adams, Shane Vinsant, and Jackson Withrow were the only current Aggies on the team back then. 

My Top 25 - Week of 2/2

We're now a couple of weeks into the dual-match season but we're still another 3 weeks away from the first computer rankings. Since the voters don't vary much from the previous week I thought I'd rank them based off what I've seen so far. The teams with some injuries are lower than they would be if playing at full strength (Oklahoma, Georgia, Stanford).

I also listed notable wins/losses up until this point.

1. Virginia (2-0) - win over Kentucky - the defending NCAA Champions will stay at #1 until they get beat. Ryan Shane didn't exactly have a great opening weekend with loses in singles versus Kentucky and doubles versus Eastern Kentucky but the rest of the team rolled.

Women: Wild Weekend Led By Upsets

Five Top 15 teams from the latest ITA Rankings - USC, Virginia, Stanford, Texas A&M and Michigan, fell this weekend in losses. USC was the highest ranked team to fall this weekend, facing SoCal rival Pepperdine. A huge factor in the Virginia match was the suspension of five players due to a snowball fight during a winter storm. Virginia and Stanford fell in tight 4-3 losses, while Ohio State upset Michigan for the first time since 2003 and Texas A&M lost to UNC in a Top 10 battle before the ITA Indoors kicks off this weekend.