Saturday Recap: TCU/Texas Tech Win in the Big 12, Ohio State/Illinois Come Through in the Big Ten, Tickets Punched in the WCC, MAC, Summit, & Big West

Semifinal Saturday was a busy one with two of the closest matches taking place at the same time in Stillwater at the Big 12 Championships.

TCU edged Oklahoma in the regular season 4-3 and even though Andrew Harris wasn't playing today you figured it would be still be a close one. TCU's usual No. 4 Eduardo Nava was out as well so each team had to shuffle its lineup a bit.

TCU took the doubles point but it was anything but easy - well it was easy at No. 3 but not on the other two courts. Cameron Norrie and Alex Rybakov won 6-1 at No. 3 but OU's Spencer Papa and Alex Ghilea picked up a 7-5 win at No. 1. OU's Axel Alvarez and Austin Siegel broke to go up 6-5 but TCU's Guillermo Nunez and Trevor Johnson would break Siegel to send it to a tiebreak. OU was serving up 5-4 in the tiebreak but TCU would win three of the next four points to close it out 7-5.

MVC Saturday Recap: Wichita State & Drake Will Meet In The Finals

The finals are set at the 2016 Missouri Valley Championships after both Wichita State and Drake ran through their competition from Illinois. In the opening match of the day the No. 1 seed Wichita State met the No. 3 seed Illinois State. The weather wasn't exactly ideal at match time (53 degrees/15 mph winds/overcast) but it improved as the day went on.

Wichita State's No. 2 team of Miroslav Herzan and Haru Inoue didn't have any issues with the conditions as they rolled, and I mean rolled, to a 6-0 win over Illinois State's Christoffer Greve and Dylan Steffens in a match that took all of 11 minutes.

Friday Recap: Baylor Stuns Okie State, Oklahoma Hold Off Texas, Chalk at the B1G, San Diego/Pepperdine To Meet in WCC Finals, Farewell to UMBC & Hartford

Every year there are a handful of teams that play their way into the NCAA Tournament and after Baylor's performance today we can add another team to that list. Baylor came in to today's match against Oklahoma State firmly on the bubble and most likely needed a win to earn its spot in the NCAAs.

Due to the inclement weather the match was moved indoors and since there was a log-jam of matches to be played they played singles first. Oklahoma State won the regular season meeting less than two weeks ago in a match that was played indoors in Stillwater so you figured they had to feel pretty confident about their chances.

Thursday Recap: UCSB and Cal Poly to Meet in Big West Finals, Big Ten & WCC Undereway

The top two seeds at the Big West Tournament advanced to the championship match with No. 1 UC Santa Barbara shutting out No. 4 UC Irvine while No. 2 Cal Poly gutted out a 4-2 win over No. 3 UC Davis. UCSB and Cal Poly met in the regular season finale last Saturday with UCSB coming out on top by a 5-2 score in a match that was played at Cal Poly.

UCSB took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 then the Gauchos picked up straight set wins from Morgan Mays, Cody Rakela, and Teague Hamilton at 3, 5, and 6. UCSB was in control at No. 2 when it was abandoned due to the clinch while Irvine was up at No. 1 and No. 4 had just split sets.

4/26 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings with Top 10 Profiles & Bubble Watch

Florida moved at No. 1 after winning the SEC Tournament while Cal fell to No. 2. North Carolina dropped one spot to No. 3, Georgia stayed at No. 4, and Ohio State and Vanderbilt swapped spots at No. 5 and No. 6. Miami stays at No. 7, Pepperdine moved up one spot to No. 8, Duke dropped one spot to No. 9, and Auburn moved into the top 10 for the first time in school history.

This set of rankings used each team's nine best wins as will next week's unpublished rankings which will be used to make the at-large selections for the NCAA Tournament.

4/26 Oracle/ITA Men's Rankings with Top 10 Profiles & Bubble Watch

Virginia stays at the top spot for the third week in a row despite the loss to Wake Forest in the finals of the ACC Championship. UCLA and North Carolina stay at No. 2 and No. 3 while Ohio State and TCU swap spots at No. 4 and No. 5.  Wake Forest and Georgia swap spots at No. 6 and No. 7 while Texas Tech moves up to No. 8. Florida moves up two spots to No. 9 and Oklahoma remains at No. 10. For further details on why the teams moved check out my profiles on each team further down below.

This set of rankings used each team's nine best wins as will next week's unpublished rankings which will be used to make the at-large selections for the NCAA Tournament.

4/26 Oracle/ITA Ranking Projections - NEW Women's #1

Virginia stays at No. 1 despite falling in the finals of the ACC Championship to Wake Forest. UVA's big win over North Carolina is what solidified their spot at the top though if UNC would have won that much they would have jumped up to No. 1. UCLA stays at No. 2 after winning the Pac-12 Championship with North Carolina staying at #3 after a semifinal showing at the ACC Championships. Ohio State rises one spot to No. 4 after beating both Northwestern and Illinois while TCU drops one spot to No. 5 after losing at Texas Tech.

There were some teams that improved their chances of qualifying for the NCAAs while there were others that really hurt themselves with some untimely losses. It's also going to be a battle to see who finishes in the top 16 and thus gets to host a NCAA regional.

More Conference Tournaments: South Florida Too Good For Tulsa, Charleston Beats UNCW, UT Arlington Rules The Sunbelt, & More

A good crowd of around 100 gathered in Memphis for the finals of the American Conference Championship where South Florida was looking to win the title for the third consecutive year. South Florida and Tulsa met just nine days prior with USF winning 7-0 though Tulsa sat its top singles player Or Ram-Harel so this one figured to be much closer.

The top seeded Bulls got off to a good start at No. 1 doubles while Tulsa went up an early break at No. 2.  USF's Vadym Kalyuzhnyy and Sasha Gozun broke on the no-ad point when Gozun cleaned it up the net to make it 4-2

Sensational Sunday Recap: Wake Stops UVA, Gators Walk the Dawg, Texas Tech Soares Over TCU, Buckeyes Wins Another B1G Crown

Sunday was a tremendous day for college tennis fans all across the country. There were over 1700 fans jammed into the Cary Tennis Park for the finals of the ACC Championship and probably at least five times that many watching throughout the country on ESPN3's national telecast. The final of the SEC Championships was also broadcast on ESPN3 while the final of the AAC Championships was broadcast on the American Network.

Wake Forest, Florida, Texas Tech, and South Florida may have been the winners of the day but the biggest winners were the supporters of college tennis. They were treated to a high-quality product that kept them on the edge of their seats and hopefully they'll continue coming back for seasons to come.

Bruins Poke The Bears to Win the Pac-12 Tournament

In the late match on Saturday night it was No. 2 UCLA gutting out a 4-1 win over No. 16 Cal to win the Pac-12 Championship. The Bruins played a sharp doubles point and picked up a 6-1 win from Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki at No. 1 and a 6-3 win from Austin Rapp and Max Cressy at No. 3.

Cressy/Rapp defeat Engsted/Nishimura 6-3 and Bruins take the doubles point over Cal pic.twitter.com/rEwqQBXZzL

— UCLA Men's Tennis (@uclatennis) April 24, 2016

Virginia Wins Thriller Over UNC, Wake Holds Off VT, Georgia & Florida Advance at SEC, OU Wins Bedlam, Bruins Win Pac-12

Semifinal Saturday was good as expected in the ACC with an almost three rain delay adding to the suspense.  North Carolina was looking for its third of the season over No. 1 Virginia and for the better part of four plus hours it looked like they'd get it.

In the high-profile doubles matchup at No. 1 it was the ITA No. 3 team of Brett Clark and Robert Kelly rolling over the ITA No. 2 team of Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli. Clark and Kelly broke UVA to start the match and then broke again to go up 5-2. Robert Kelly would serve it out to give UNC the 6-2.

AAC Semifinals: South Florida and Tulsa Advance to the Finals

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Memphis with blue skies paving the way for a pair of action packed semifinals that were played simultaneously with a 9 a.m. central start. All 12 courts were available on Saturday after only having 10 available on Friday due to a crack near the center line on court 1.

Friday Recap: UCLA and Cal Win Out West, Rain Hampers Play in the Southeast, Ohio State and Penn State deliver in the Big Ten, & More

It was an extremely long day of tennis in Columbia, South Carolina, as rain pushed the schedule at the SEC Tournament back significantly and ultimately shifted play indoors. One of the opening matches of the day, which started at 9am ET, would be a barnburner as South Carolina was trying to pull off its third top-20 upset in the last five days.

The Gamecocks started off the morning by taking the doubles point over No. 13 Texas A&M with Gabriel Friedrich and Harrison O'Keefe winning the deciding tiebreak at No. 1 by a 7-1 score.

Texas A&M rebounded in singles by taking four opening sets but South Carolina's Andrew Schafer was the first one to finish after he defeated Jordi Arconada 6-1, 7-5 at No. 3.

Thursday Conference Tournament Results

Several conference tournaments got underway on Wednesday, with an abbreviated schedule, but they really got going on Thursday with the ACC and SEC having four matches each.

All four matches at the SEC Tournament in Columbia, South Carolina, were hotly contested with South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Kentucky the day's winners.

The four matches at the ACC were quite as suspenseful with Virginia Tech rolling over Miami 4-0, Georgia Tech pulling away from Louisville 4-1, Notre Dame holding off Duke 4-1, and NC State edging Clemson 4-2.

Both of the matches in Ojai were 4-0 shutouts with Cal and Stanford overwhelming Washington and Oregon.

TCU Wins Share of Big 12 & Conference Tournaments Underway

TCU won a share of the Big 12 regular season title with a 4-0 win over No. 43 Baylor in front of a huge crowd of 1816 - not bad for a Wednesday night.

Congrats to @TCUMensTennis and @RoditiTCUTennis on the #BIG12Championship! pic.twitter.com/rO3EGXbqz3

— TCU Equipment (@TCU_Equipment) April 21, 2016

4/19 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release - Top 10 Profiles

California stays at No. 1 for the seventh week in a row but its margin over No. 2 North Carolina narrowed a good bit after losing at Stanford on Saturday. Florida moved up one spot to No. 3 and Georgia fell one spot to No. 4 after the Gators beat the Bulldogs last Friday. Vanderbilt moves up one spot to No. 5 while Ohio State falls on spot to No. 6. Miami and Duke remain at No. 7 and No. 8 while Pepperdine and Michigan swapped spots at No. 9 and No. 10.

Princeton and Brown were the only two teams to rise by double digits while Long Beach State came up 9 spots. Oregon was the only team to drop by double digits while UNLV had the next biggest drop at 8.

4/19 Oracle/ITA Men's Rankings Release - Top 10 Profiles

Virginia stays at the top spot for the second week in a row while there was some shuffling at the two through five spots. UCLA moved up two spots to No. 2, North Carolina moved up two spots to No. 3, TCU fell two spots to No. 4, and Ohio State fell two spots to No. 5.

Georgia and Wake Forest remain at No. 6 and No. 7 though the gap between the two has widened considerably. USC moved up one spot to No. 8, Texas Tech moved up one spot to No. 9, and Oklahoma dropped two spots to No. 10. For further details on why the teams moved check out my profiles on each team further down below.

This set of rankings used each team's nine best wins and all losses as will each subsequent set of rankings until the selection of the NCAA field on May 3rd.

4/19 Oracle/ITA Ranking Projections

Virginia stays at No. 1 after a big win on Friday over Wake Forest while UCLA surges up to No. 2 after its road win at USC.  North Carolina comes up to No. 3 after squeezing past Georgia Tech, TCU drops two spots down to No. 4 despite winning at Texas, and Ohio State drops two spots to No. 5 despite road wins over Minnesota and Wisconsin.

There were some teams that improved their chances of qualifying for the NCAAs while there were others that really hurt themselves with some untimely losses. It's also going to be a battle to see who finishes in the top 16 and thus gets to host a NCAA regional.

Sunday Recap: UCLA Over USC, Texas Tech Takes Out OU, Columbia/George Washington/Jackson State NCAA Bound

Sunday was a tremendous day for college tennis with five matches broadcast on National TV. The day started off with Fox College Sports Pacific/Fox Sport Oklahoma showing the Oklahoma/Kansas women's match. Then you had Fox Sports 2 showing a doubleheader in Stillwater with the Oklahoma State women hosting TCU while the Oklahoma State men hosted Baylor. Lastly you had the Pac-12 Network showing a UCLA/USC doubleheader with the men playing first and then the women second.

Despite these matches being on television the stands were packed and the crowds were loud which made for a great environment for those of us that watched from home. I hope today was a glimpse into the future and not just a once a year thing. I'd love to be able to watch multiple matches every weekend and I want to applaud both Fox Sports, the Pac-12 Network, and ESPN for getting matches on its different platforms. The Tennis Channel broadcasted the finals of the Oracle/ITA Masters back in September but I don't believe they've had any college tennis on since so maybe that's something that will change in the future.

Saturday Recap: TCU Hooks The Horns, Cal Men Take the Big Slam, Stanford Women Slam #1 Cal, Coastal Carolina Dancing

The first big match of the day took place in Austin between No. 18 Texas and No. 2 TCU. The Horned Frogs took the doubles point with a 6-1 win at No. 3 from Cameron Norrie and Alex Rybakov and a 7-6(1) win at No. 1 from Hudson Blake and Reese Stalder.

Texas turned it around in singles and claimed five opening sets to really put TCU on its heels. The only Horned Frog to win a first set was also the first one to finish as Cameron Norrie defeated George Goldhoff 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1.

TCU found its fire in the second set and took all six sets to send five of the six matches to a third set. Jerry Lopez put TCU ahead 3-0 after completing his comeback with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Michael Riechmann at No. 5.

Friday Recap: UVA Too Strong For Wake, UGA Rolls Arky, UNC Holds Off GT

The two biggest matches of the day didn't end up being as close as I thought with both No. 1 Virginia and No. 6 Georgia rolling to victories over No. 7 Wake Forest and No. 12 Arkansas.

Virginia won its 13h straight regular season ACC Championship with a 5-2 win over Wake Forest in front of over 1100 fans. It looked like Wake Forest might take the early lead but Virginia was able to hang on in doubles. Wake's Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky won 6-2 at No. 3 but Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger would break on the deciding point to go up 5-3 at No. 2. Kwiatkowski went up 40-0 on his 5-3 service but would double fault two times in a row to make it 40-30. Kwiatkowski would land a first set and then a Styslinger volley at the net would force a Wake error to clinch the 6-3 win.

Weekend Preview (4/15-4/17)

This is a monster weekend of college tennis with a slew of intriguing matches. The biggest match will take place in Charlottesville with top-ranked Virginia hosting No. 7 Wake Forest Demon with the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and the ACC regular season title at stake.

Georgia has already clinched a share of the SEC regular season crown and can win it outright with either a win over Arkansas or Ole Miss or a Florida loss to Kentucky and Tennessee.

Michigan has a chance to make a move in the Big Ten standings but it won't be easy with road matches at Northwestern and Illinois. Ohio State is still the favorite to win the conference but the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament will probably be decided this weekend.

Conference Tournaments & The Bubble Watch

If you hadn't noticed there are three conference tournaments taking place this week and then they'll be another 27 that will take place over the next two weeks. I have a Conference Tournament Central tab at the top of my site that will keep you in the loop on each so check it out.

There are some conferences that play a round robin format during the regular season and some that do not. The ones that do not play a full round robin format usually seed the conference tournament based off the most recent ITA rankings. The next thing you're probably wondering is what if there aren't any teams ranked in the ITA top 75 - then what? The conferences are sent a list of the expanded ITA rankings that includes just the schools in their conference so that way they can seed accordingly.

Below I'll go through each conference with my best guess on the number of teams that I anticipate qualifying for this year's NCAA tournament. There will be a lot of one bid leagues since the at-large cut-off is usually right around 42.

4/12 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release - Top 9 Profiles

California stays at No. 1 for the sixth week in a row with its margin over No. 2 North Carolina at 7.53 points. Georgia moved up one spot to No. 3 and Florida moved up two spots to No. 4. Last week's No. 3, Ohio State, fell two spots to No. 5.  Vanderbilt fell one spot to No. 6, Miami stays at No. 7, Duke stays at No. 8, and Michigan comes up two spots to No. 9. Pepperdine and South Carolina actually had the same rounded point total of 50.23 but when taken out further the Waves were actually 50.2283 while South Carolina was 50.2281 so that's why Pepperdine is No. 10 and South Carolina is No. 11.

Rice, Florida State, DePaul, Utah, and Texas each rose by double digits while Washington State was the only team to make a double digit drop.

4/12 Oracle/ITA Men's Rankings Release - Top 9 Profiles

As I forecasted on Monday, Virginia is your new No. 1 with its road win over Florida putting it over the top. TCU stays at No. 2, Ohio State comes up two spots to No. 3, UCLA stays at No. 4, and North Carolina, which was last week's No. 1, falls to No. 5 after a stunning loss to Notre Dame.

Georgia moves up one spot to No. 6 after a win over Florida, Wake Forest drops one spot to No. 7, Oklahoma rises one spot to No. 8, USC falls one spot to No. 9, and Texas Tech rises one spot to No. 10.

This set of rankings used each team's nine best wins and all losses as will each subsequent set of rankings until the selection of the NCAA field on May 3rd.