4/14 ITA Rankings Have Been Released - Top 10 Breakdown (All Rankings On Same Page)

Oklahoma stays at #1 in the ITA Men's rankings for the 7th week in a row and for the 8th time in the last 9 weeks.

A little shake up in the women's top 10 with North Carolina replacing USC as the new #1 with USC now #2. Florida up to #3, Cal #4, UCLA #5, Georgia #6, Texas A&M #7, Baylor #8, Vanderbilt #9, and Oklahoma State #10. 

Below I'll breakdown the Top 10 on the men's side looking at the 9 best wins that were used in the rankings this week along with other quality ranked wins that could potentially fit in down the road.  You'll notice some of the quality wins are ranked higher than a top 9 win and that is because I used the new ranking so that you can see what changes will be made next week.  I also listed the point totals gained from the best wins and losses to come up with the computer score.  

4/14 ITA Rankings Preview

The top 4 stays the same this week though Oklahoma has extended its lead at #1 to almost 10 points after knocking off #2 Baylor last Friday.  OU's lead was 15 points but its stunning loss at Texas Tech dropped it down a full 5 points.  Baylor is #2 though its lead over #3 Illinois went from 6 points to 5 with the loss to Oklahoma. Illinois stays at #3 with #4 Virginia a little over 4 points back. 

This week's rankings use each team's top 9 best wins as will each of the next 2 rankings which will take us all the way up through the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field on April 28th.

Texas Tech and Stanford were the 2 big risers this week with Texas Tech coming up 7 spots from 23 to 16 after the win over #1 Oklahoma and Stanford coming up 12 spots after the wins over #5 USC and #15 UCLA. Some may wonder why the increase wasn't bigger and its due to the fact that the best 9 wins were used so its tougher to move the needle with just 1 or 2 wins.  Going into the weekend Stanford only had 5 ranked wins and 4 of those 5 were ranked between 55 and 75.  

Princeton takes the biggest fall inside the top 40 by dropping 5 spots from 30 to 35 after losing to both Dartmouth and Harvard

Sunday Recap: Guns Up - Red Raiders Stick Up OU, Rubin Clinches for Wake Forest, Alabama State is Dancing

Just when we thought the weekend couldn't get any crazier #23 Texas Tech pulled off a 4-3 stunning upset over seemingly unstoppable #1 Oklahoma.

Texas Tech was just 7-9 in doubles coming in but they managed to take the point over Oklahoma by winning 6-3 at #3 doubles and 7-6(6) at #1.  Oklahoma was 12-10 in doubles coming in but time and time again they overcame the early deficit to come back and win - not today.  (TT's live scoring & recap showed Nick Papac with Spencer Papa at #3 dubs but it was Florin Bragusi who partnered with Papa).

Oklahoma would take the opening set at 1, 2, 4, and 6 singles while Texas Tech took the opening set at 3 and 5.  Texas Tech's Alex Sendegeya would run his dual match record to 17-6 with a 6-2, 6-3 upset over #30 Dane Webb which extended the Tech lead to 2-0.

Oklahoma would then make a run by winning the next 3 completed matches as Axel Alvarez, Andrew Harris, and Florin Bragusi each won in straight sets at 1, 2, and 6 singles.  Oklahoma would now lead 3-2 but they were trailing in each of the other 2 matches.

Texas Tech's Jolan Cailleau would then tie it at 3-3 as he won the only match that went 3 sets when he defeated Alex Ghilea 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at #4 singles.

Sunday Preview: UNC at Wake + Sunday Storylines

It's been a great weekend of tennis so let's see if North Carolina and Wake Forest can finish it off in style.

#16 North Carolina (17-8) at #13 Wake Forest (15-6) - 2pm est - UNC is coming off a big 5-2 win over Duke while Wake Forest streamrolled Miami 7-0.  UNC continues to be hampered by injuries with both Esben Hess-Olesen (13.48) and Oystein Steiro (13.47) likely to miss their final regular season match in the powder blue.  If neither Hess-Olesen or Steiro can play doubles I'm not sure who UNC will put out though Brayden Schnur should be more than capable even though he hasn't played doubles since returning from his injury.

Projected Singles Lineup:
1. #15 Brayden Schnur (UNC 14.55) vs. #26 Noah Rubin (WF 14.88)
2. #24 Ronnie Schneider (UNC 14.20) vs. #13 Romain Bogaerts (WF 14.34)
3. #71 Brett Clark (UNC 13.79) vs. #103 Jon Ho (WF 13.71)
4. Jack Murray (UNC 14.12) vs. Skander Mansouri (WF 13.19)
5. #109 Robert Kelly (UNC 13.56) vs. Christian Seraphim (WF 13.68)
6. Stuart DePaolo (UNC 12.46) vs. Maksim Kan (WF 13.33)

Saturday Recap: Stanford Stuns USC, TCU Hammers Texas A&M, Georgia Rolls Ole Miss

I thought the big story of the day would be TCU thumping Texas A&M or Georgia blanking Ole Miss but Stanford stole their thunder as the Cardinal stunned #5 USC 4-3. Each of these 3 big matches all had monster crowds on hand with TCU drawing over 1700, Georgia had over 1800, and while I didn't see an attendence figure from Stanford the pictures I saw showed the stands pretty full.

#Cardinalpalooza upset watch? Winners of eight straight, Stanford leads No. 5 USC 1-0. Shocked No. 15 UCLA yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Orr0Iq9Rgd
— StanfordMTennis (@StanfordTennis) April 11, 2015

Stanford took the doubles point with quick wins at 2 and 3 but then USC got off to a hot start in singles by taking the opening set on 4 courts. USC's Max De Vroome would tie the match at 1 with a 6-4, 6-4 win at #5 singles over Nolan Paige but moments later Stanford's David Hsu would knock off Nick Crystal at #6 singles by a 6-3, 6-4 score. Hsu's win over Crystal was probably the most surprising result because Crystal brought a 14-1 dual match record into the match and he had only dropped 4 games to Hsu in the first meeting in late February.  

Saturday Preview: Texas A&M/TCU, Georgia/Ole Miss, UCLA/Cal, USC/Stanford

Friday was a great day of tennis so hopefully these 4 matches below can bring us just as much enjoyment.

TCU has already beat Texas A&M once and that was on the road - can they win this one at home? Does Georgia wrap up a share of the SEC regular season title and the #1 seed in next week's SEC Tournament or does Ole Miss make a strong push for the top 10? Stanford has already beat both Cal and UCLA this year - could they possibly also beat USC today? Does UCLA regroup from the Stanford loss and beat an improving Cal? We'll have our answers in a few hours.


#7 Texas A&M (18-3) at #10 TCU (18-6) - 2pm est/1pm cst - This will be a rematch from the 1st day of the season when TCU went into College Station and beat Texas A&M 4-2 (box score below). Both teams have shuffled the lineup a good bit so it's to take with the only expected rematch to come at #5 singles between Catanzariti and Lugones.

Ba Ba Boom!!!! Sooners Do It Again + A Plethora of 4-3 Thrillers

The match between #1 Oklahoma and #2 Baylor had a ton of hype coming in and boy did those 2 teams deliver a classic. A huge crowd of just under 1500 was on hand in Waco along with many more following along at home via the Baylor blog and live scoreboard.

The first surprise of the day came when the doubles lineups were announced. According to Kim Gorum, who was running Baylor's terrific blog, Baylor's doubles lineups were challenged earlier in the week by the opposing coaches in the Big 12. The coaches didn't like the fact that Baylor's #1 team had a record of 5-4 while it's #2 and #3 teams were a combined 26-3.  The challenge was upheld so Baylor had to move its #2 to #1, its #3 to #2, and while they could have kept the Zsiga/Lupieri duo together at #3 they decided to switch it up and pair Max Tchoutakian with Mate Zsiga at #3.  

Despite the shuffle, Baylor still came out strong and took the doubles point with wins at 1 and 3.  The clinching win at #1 was a little harder than it could have been because Diego Galeano got broke at love when he was serving for it up 5-3 but Baylor would come back and take it in a tiebreak.

Once singles got underway, the Sooner Schooner made a lap around the complex and deposited 4 first sets in OU's bank and then it gave Axel Alvarez and Dane Webb a little extra gas to get those 2 back in their respective matches.

Friday Preview: #1 Oklahoma/#2 Baylor, USC/Cal, UCLA/Stanford, Vandy/Miss St

Get your dinner done early because there's some big time tennis tonight in Waco as #2 Baylor hosts #1 Oklahoma.  Baylor will have a blog running in addition to providing live scoring and streaming video so if you're around a computer check it out.  All the scoring, video, blog, twitter links are done below at the bottom of this post.

#1 Oklahoma (20-1) at #2 Baylor (17-3) - 7pm est - Oklahoma has already beat Baylor twice this year, once indoors in Chicago and once outdoors in California (box scores below), so you'd think it'd be tough to beat them again.  Since the 2nd meeting Oklahoma has played and beat #10 TCU, #9 Texas, and #29 Tulsa while Baylor hasn't played anyone substantial.  It'll be interesting to see if that lack of competition over these last 3 weeks will hurt Baylor.  The Bears will have the home court advantage with a loud, rowdy crowd cheering on every point so we'll get to see how Oklahoma handles it though they managed just fine in Columbus against Ohio State.  The teams have split the doubles point in the previous 2 meetings but I like Baylor to take the point this time around because of the influence of the crowd.

Prematch comments via Baylor:

"It's going to be a blast," head coach Matt Knoll said. "I've been here a long time and this is only going to be the second time we've ever had this situation. On top of that we'll have a No.1 vs. No. 2 match in singles as well, so it's going to be a special day. It's a big day for the program and something that we're very excited about. It's going to bring out the best in us."

"I think they're super good," Knoll said. "I think the margins are small when you go against the best teams like this. We have to focus. We have to have fight. We have to do the intangible things, and I think we're going to have a chance. Having the chance to play in front of a big crowd here is going to be a special event for our guys and build a lot of enthusiasm and momentum going into the NCAA Championships."

Thursday Recap: UNC Tops Duke, Ole Miss Fights Back, aTm Rings Up Another Win, Dawgs over Hogs

North Carolina won the big match of the day as they knocked off cross town rival #6 Duke 4-2.   The Tar Heels started off by taking the doubles point as its #3 team of Esben Hess-Olesen and Andrew Gores provided the clincher winning 8-5.  The senior duo had never played an official doubles match before today but were thrown together after fellow senior Oystein Steiro had to sit out with an injury.

Duke quickly tied the match at 1 with Chris Mengel picking up a win when Esben Hess-Olesen was retired with an injury when trailing 5-2 in the 1st.   Just a few minutes later UNC would retake the lead when Robert Kelly laid out TJ Pura 6-0, 6-1 at #6 singles.  I thought Kelly would win going in but I didn't think it'd be like that.  

Brayden Schnur would extend the UNC lead to 3-1 as the Tar Heel sophomore picked up his most impressive win of the year when he knocked off #11 Nicolas Alvarez 6-3, 6-4 at #1 singles.  Raphael Hemmeler would get Duke to within 3-2 after he scored a 7-5, 6-3 win at #3 singles over Brett Clark. 

Duke needed both of the final matches but UNC wouldn't even give them 1 as Ronnie Schneider came back from a set down to beat Jason Tahir at #2 and just moments later Jack Murray would finish off Bruno Semenzato at #4.  

Thursday Preview: Duke/UNC, LSU/aTm, Ole Miss/S Carolina, UGA/ARK

Pretty decent schedule of matches for a Thursday with Duke making the 10 mile trip to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina plus at least 2 of the matches in the SEC should be competitive.  I have the live scoring links below so follow along when they get underway.

#6 Duke (19-3) at #16 North Carolina (16-8) - 3pm est - Live Scoring - North Carolina leads the overall series by a wide margin (89-38) but Duke has won 4 of the last 5 so for North Carolina's sake it's a good thing that Brayden Schnur came back last week.   The Tar Heels went 4-3 in Schnur's absense but upon his return they were able to beat both Boston College and Notre Dame last weekend.  Duke also beat BC and Notre Dame last weekend so both teams are currently riding 2 match winning streaks.

Duke is 16-6 in doubles however they just recently changed doubles pairings after dropping 3 in a row.  Duke switched up its #1 and #2 teams by pairing Nicolas Alvarez with Jason Tahir and Josh Levine with Raphael Hemmeler.  Previously Alvarez and Hemmeler have been teamed up as had Tahir and Levine.   North Carolina is 18-6 in doubles and they've won the point the last 3 times out.

What's Coming Up + Daily Top 10

It's hump day so that means it's time to look ahead at what's coming up over the next 4 days.  As you can see there are going to be more than a few good matches coming up and in fact Duke and UNC will jump start the weekend tomorrow afternoon.  For a full list of all the matches you can look in my live scoring links page.

The HUGE match of the week takes place in Waco on Friday night when #2 Baylor hosts #1 Oklahoma.  Oklahoma has already beat Baylor twice this season - once indoors in Chicago at the National Indoors and once outdoors in Indian Wells at the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge. There's a very good chance that this could be the 1st of 3 matches between these two teams just in Waco alone because not only is the Big 12 conference tournament in Waco this year but so is the NCAA Championships. They always say it's tough to beat somebody 3 times in a season - what do they say about beating someone 5 times?

I'll do in-depth previews with predictions on the ones in bold.

4/7 ITA Rankings Have Been Released - Top 10 Breakdown

Oklahoma stays at #1 in the ITA Men's rankings for the 6th week in a row and for the 7th time in the last 8 weeks. The top 8 in the Women's rankings stay the same with USC, North Carolina, Cal, UCLA, and Georgia holding down the top 5.

Below I'll breakdown the Top 10 on the men's side looking at the 8 best wins that were used in the rankings this week along with other quality ranked wins that could potentially fit in down the road.  You'll notice some of the quality wins are ranked higher than a top 8 win and that is because I used the new ranking so that you can see what changes will be made next week.  I also listed the point totals gained from the best wins and losses to come up with the computer score.  

Next week's rankings will use each teams 9 best wins as will each subsequent set of rankings until the NCAA field is announced on April 28th at 5pm (Women) and 5:30pm (Men).

Oklahoma is still at #1 with the Sooners winning its only match last week over Tulsa.  

• 8 Best Wins (701.8): #2 Baylor (2x), #4 Virginia, #5 USC, #9 Texas, #10 TCU, at #11 Ohio State, at #13 Wake Forest
• Other Quality Wins: #14 Ole Miss, #16 North Carolina (2X), #19 South Florida, #26 Northwestern, #29 Tulsa
• Losses (8.2): #7 Texas A&M
• Computer Score:  701.8/8.2 = 85.59 (was 86.36)
• What's Coming Up: at #2 Baylor (4/10), at #23 Texas Tech (4/12), #25 Oklahoma State (4/19)
• Comments:  Big match this Friday as the Sooners go to Waco to play Baylor for the 3rd time this year.  Oklahoma should stay #1 regardless of the outcome but it's lead would narrow a good bit if it lost.  I'll run the #s on Wednesday to see what would happen if each won.  

4/7 ITA Rankings Preview

The top 4 stays the same this week with Oklahoma, Baylor, Illinois, and Virginia at 1, 2, 3, and 4 though the separation between the 4 changed a good bit. Oklahoma's lead over #2 Baylor dropped slightly from 8.5 points to 7 points though it'll likely change more this week when these 2 Big 12 heavyweights meet on Friday in Waco.  Last week #2 Baylor and #3 Illinois were separated by just .17 points but the gap opened up significantly this week to 6.57 - I alluded to the change in the Illinois section of my Top 10 breakdown last week. The gap between #3 Illinois and #4 Virginia shrunk from 9.46 to 4.88 due to Virginia picking up a big win over Virginia Tech and Illinois' 8th best win being outside the top 30.  

This week's rankings use each team's top 8 best wins and then next week it'll go up to 9 and stay there until the end of the regular season. 

Mississippi State is expected to enter the top 20 this week after being ranked at 34 just 2 weeks ago.  The Bulldogs upset #6 Georgia on Friday and have now won 5 in a row.  

Sunday Recap: Hoos Too Much For Hokies, Texas A&M Gets Past Florida

Both Virginia and Texas A&M faced tough opposition on Sunday but both answered the bell and came out on top.  Virginia won the doubles point and then took all 6 opening sets and managed to finish the top 3 out in straights as Mitchell Frank, Ryan Shane, and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski all won.   Virginia played singles without one of its top 3 players as Collin Altamirano sat out due to a stomach bug.

Virginia Tech did show some fight down low but Virginia still managed to win 2 of those 3 with all going 3 sets.

Virginia recap

"I was pleased with the overall performance today," said head coach Brian Boland. "Virginia Tech showed why they are a top-15 team, if not better. They are solid from top to bottom. We had all the momentum, winning doubles and six first sets, but they never gave up. We had to overcome a little adversity today and I was happy with how we responded to that."

"Missing Collin and Alex (Ritschard) in singles, I was pleased with how the guys stepped up," said Boland. "Alex is continuing to get better and is getting close to being back. Collin had a stomach bug and was able to play doubles, but not singles today. I thought the team responded well to having to reshuffle the lineup a little bit."

Sunday Preview: VT/UVA, FLA/aTm, + Other Storylines

Sunday brings us 2 Top 20 showdowns with Virginia hosting Virginia Tech while Florida hosts Texas A&M.  Below are the breakdowns of those 2 matches along with a schedule of play for the day.


#13 Virginia Tech (15-2) at #4 Virginia (15-3) - 1pm est - This will be the first time these two have ever met when both have been ranked inside the top 15. Virginia puts its 131 match ACC winning streak on the line as well as its 11 match winning streak against Virginia Tech.  The doubles point will be huge for VT because I don't see anyway they come close without taking that point.  Virginia Tech is 10-7 in doubles while Virginia is 16-2.

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of April 4th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

Projected Singles Lineup:
1. #63 Amerigo Contini (VT 14.26) vs. #29 Mitchell Frank (UVA 14.96)
2. #45 Andreas Bjerrehus (VT 13.79 vs. #6 Ryan Shane (UVA 14.60)
3. #109 Joao Monteiro (VT 13.76) vs. #55 Collin Altamirano (UVA 14.80)
4. Hunter Koontz (VT 13.65) vs. #10 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA 14.66)
5. Edoardo Tessaro (VT 13.29) vs. J.C. Aragone (UVA 13.95)
6. Jai Corbett (VT 12.87)  vs. #112 Mac Styslinger (UVA 13.94)

Others who could play: Henrik Wiersholm (UVA 13.46), Florian Nicoud (VT 13.27), Aaron Gomez (VT 12.94)

Saturday Recap: Texas Wins #300 For Center, TCU Keeps On Rolling, Green Wave Crash Down On Tulsa

Texas picked up win #300 for head coach Michael Center with a hard fought 4-1 win over Texas Tech.  The Red Raiders won the doubles point by winning tiebreaks at 2 and 3 but Texas was able to rally with singles wins from Soren Hess-Olesen, Adrien Berkowicz, Nick Naumann, and Clement Homs.

Texas recap

"I'm proud of the student-athletes I've had, not only this year but in the past, that have made contributions to our program while they were here and after their graduation," Center said after Saturday's win. "It has been very gratifying, and I'm looking forward to many more with this group."

"Every match is so hard to win in this conference and at this time of year," Center said. "We had some opportunities in doubles, but ended up losing two tiebreakers to put our backs against the wall. I know Texas Tech has a heck of a team in singles, but we played really well down the stretch and fought hard to get this win."

"Clement is strong, both physically and mentally, particularly in the moment when you really need him to step up," coach Michael Center said. "He is just a man out there right now. He is playing really tough. As he continues to play stronger, that makes our team stronger."

Saturday Preview: Texas/Texas Tech, TCU/USF, + Other Storylines

Saturday brings us a pair of Top 25 matches with #9 Texas hosting #21 Texas Tech and #10 TCU hosting #22

#21 Texas Tech (16-5) at #9 Texas (15-3) - 4pm est (Longhorn Network) -  Texas Tech is coming off a close 4-2 loss to TCU while Texas lost to Oklahoma 4-1 last Sunday.  Neither team has played well in doubles with Texas going 9-9 while Texas Tech is a poor 5-9 (didn't play doubles point in 7 matches).  The weather forecast calls for cloudy skies and temps in the low 60s for this one.

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of April 3rd.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

Projected Singles Lineup:

1. #40 Felipe Soares (TT 13.65) vs. #1 Soren Hess-Olesen (TX 14.92)

2. Hugo Dojas (TT 13.45) vs. #34 Lloyd Glasspool (TX 13.90)

3. Alex Sendegeya (TT 13.58) vs. #72 Adrien Berkowicz (TX 13.89)

4. #113 Jolan Cailleau (TT 13.38) vs. George Goldhoff (TX 13.68)

5. Francisco Zambon (TT 12.88) vs. Nick Naumann (TX 13.76)

6. Connor Curry (TT 12.94) vs. Clement Homs (TX 13.31)

Friday Recap: Mississippi State Upsets #6 Georgia, Hokies Gut Out A Win, + More Results

The big upset of the day came in Starkville as the Bulldogs from Mississippi State upset the Bulldogs from Georgia 4-2.  Mississippi State took the doubles point for the 16th time this year and is now 11-0 in doubles at home.  State fell a break behind at both #1 and #3 but managed to turn both courts around and would clinch the point with a win at #1 over the #1 ranked team in the country.

Mississippi State kept the momentum going during singles play and jumped out to early break leads on 5 of 6 courts.

Mississippi State's Rishab Agarwal was 1st off the court with a 6-2, 6-2 win at #5 singles over Nick Wood in a match that was pretty lopsided the entire time.  Georgia's Wayne Montgomery would cut the deficit to 2-1 with a 7-6, 6-2 at #2 singles over Juan Cruz Estevarena.  Montgomery fell behind 5-3 in the 1st set but would break Estevarena at 4-5 and 5-6 to force the breaker then after jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the TB he took it 7-4.

Friday Preview: Virginia Tech/Louisville, Georgia/Mississippi State + Other Storylines

There aren't any top 10 match-ups on Friday but there are several in the top 40 that will be playing each other.  Below are my previews of the 2 biggest ones along with a few other storylines.

#13 Virginia Tech (14-2) at #23 Louisville (19-4) - 2:30pm est - The Cards have won 5 in a row and 7 of 8 with 4 of those being ranked wins while the Hokies have won 2 straight and 11 of 12 with 6 of those being over ranked teams.  Louisville is 18-5 in doubles while Virginia Tech is 9-7.

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of April 2nd.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

Projected Singles Lineup:
1. #45 Andreas Bjerrehus (VT 13.79) vs. #5 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (UL 14.65)
2. #63 Amerigo Contini (VT 14.25) vs. #94 Albert Wagner (UL 13.61)
3. #109 Joao Monteiro (VT 13.75) vs. #123 Alex Gornet (UL 13.60)
4. Hunter Koontz (VT 13.66) vs. Chris Simich (UL 13.37)
5. Edoardo Tessaro (VT 13.28) vs. Michael Lippens (UL 12.96)
6. Jai Corbett (VT 12.86) vs. Van Damrongsri (UL 12.36)

Thursday Recap: TCU Clips Texas Tech, Ole Miss Blanks Tennessee, Kentucky Upends Arkansas

The match of the day took place in Fort Worth as #10 TCU held on to beat #21 Texas Tech 4-2. TCU had a dominant performance in doubles and then picked up a couple of quick wins from Facundo Lugones and Will Stein at 5 and 6 before having to withstand a Red Raider rally on the other 4 courts. Texas Tech pulled to within 3-2 after Jolan Cailleau and Felipe Soares won in straight sets at 4 and 1 and Alex Sendegeya was a game away from a win at 5 leading 5-3 in the 3rd.  However TCU's Cameron Norrie would fight off a set point in the 2nd set tiebreaker and close out his match in straight sets to clinch the TCU win.

TCU recap with comments and video clip from David Roditi (courtesy of TCU)

"That was a great college battle," head coach David Roditi said. "Our boys had to dig in deep. We had many opportunities to finish the match earlier and I'm proud of our guys for continuing to dig and fight for every point.

"There was a great doubles performance at No. 2 and a great clinch for our No. 1 doubles team. When we win the doubles point and then get quick wins on courts five and six, it puts us in a very good position and puts a lot of pressure on our opponents. Now we take care of our bodies and be ready for another top-25 battle on Saturday."

Wednesday Recap: Oklahoma Over Tulsa, Texas A&M Tops Rice, San Diego Too Strong For Pepperdine

There were 3 good matches on Wednesday's docket with the higher ranked team winning each of them.

#1 Oklahoma overcame the loss of the doubles point to #20 Tulsa by taking it to the Golden Hurricanes in singles winning all 10 completed sets.  Axel Alvarez, Dane Webb, Alex Ghilea, and Spencer Papa all won in singles.

#8 Texas A&M was pushed by #48 Rice in doubles but pulled out the deciding court in a tiebreak.  The Aggies took 9 of 10 completed sets in singles and got its 3 points from Harrison Adams, AJ Catanzariti, and Max Lunkin.  The win by #51 Harrison Adams was his first dual match win this season after starting out 0-8.

#17 San Diego defeated #41 Pepperdine 4-1 to put the Toreros 2 up on the Waves in the WCC standings.  San Diego took the doubles point and picked up singles wins from Filip Vittek, Jordan Angus, and Geoffrey Fosso. Pepperdine's Pedro Iamachkine picked up the Waves lone point winning at #4 singles.  

What's Coming Up

There are several good matches on the schedule for Wednesday evening then the weekend has a few good ones too.  Here is what is coming up with the ones in bold what I'll be previewing the day before:

4/1 (Wednesday)

Tulsa at Oklahoma - Tulsa has already beat a #1 this year - can they do it again?

Texas A&M at Rice - Rice has pulled off some upsets lately - maybe one more?

San Diego at Pepperdine - a USD win here would put them in control of the WCC

4/2 (Thursday)

Texas Tech at TCU - Texas Tech has been on the rise but they haven't faced a top 10 team yet.

Tennessee at Ole Miss - Tennessee needs a big win to get into the top 40 so it can be assured of an NCAA berth - can they sneak past Ole Miss or will the Rebels turn them away?

3/31 ITA Rankings Have Been Released - Top 10 Breakdown

Oklahoma stays at #1 in the ITA Men's rankings for the 5th week in a row and for the 6th time in the last 7 weeks. The top 4 in the Women's rankings stays the same with Georgia and Florida swapping spots at 5 and 6.

Below I'll breakdown the Top 10 on the men's side looking at the 7 best wins that were used in the rankings this week along with other quality ranked wins that could potentially fit in down the road.  You'll notice some of the quality wins are ranked higher than a top 7 win and that is because I used the new ranking so that you can see what changes will be made next week.  

Oklahoma would have retained its #1 ranking whether they played or not last week but they increased their margin after knocking off a pair of top 10 teams in TCU and Texas last week.  

• 7 Best Wins: #2 Baylor (2x), #4 Virginia, #7 USC, #9 Texas, #10 TCU, at #11 Ohio State
• Other Quality Wins: at #12 Wake Forest, #14 Ole Miss, #19 North Carolina (2X), #22 South Florida, #24 Northwestern
• Losses: #8 Texas A&M
• What's Coming Up: #20 Tulsa (4/1), at #2 Baylor (4/10), at #21 Texas Tech (4/12), #30 Oklahoma State (4/19)
• Comments:  Would be hard to see them NOT staying #1 all the way through the regular season. 

3/31 ITA Rankings Preview

Oklahoma is still on top as expected and has widened its margin to a 8.5 points over #2 Baylor thanks to a pair of top 10 wins last weekend over Texas and TCU.  This week's rankings use each team's top 7 best wins and then next week it'll go up to 8 and then the week after that it'll be at 9 and stay there until the end of the regular season. 

Viriginia makes the biggest jump inside the top 20 from 8 to 4 thanks to wins over North Carolina and Duke. Mississippi State should have the largest jump inside the top 40 as I see them coming up 8 spots from 34 to 26. Tulsa should also make a nice push jumping 7 spots from 27 to 20 after winning on the road at South Florida on Sunday.

Oklahoma State will take the biggest fall in the top 40 by dropping 8 spots from 22 to 30 after dropping a pair last week to Texas and TCU.  

Sunday Recap: Illinois, Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas A&M All Win Big

It was expected to be a dynamite day with 4 matches taking place between top 15 teams but in the end we got 4 lopsided matches with 3 of the 4 wrapped up in under 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Illinois put an end to Ohio State's 97 match regular season Big 10 winning streak with a 4-0 win.  The Illini surprised many by taking the doubles point with wins at 2 and 3 doubles.  Illinois' #2 team of Aron Hiltzik and Ross Guignon got a break to start the match and never looked and rolled to an 8-5 win.  Below is match point which includes a swing and miss by Diaz.

The Illinois' #3 team of Farris Gosea and Aleks Vukic fell behind 3-1 before taking the next 5 games to go up 6-3.  A couple of service hold later and Illinois had the doubles point.