Women's Individual Preseason Rankings With UTRs

Yesterday I gave you the men's preseason rankings and today here are the women's preseason individual rankings. These preseason rankings are simply last year's final rankings with all the graduating seniors removed along with those that turned pro or are taking the fall off to play pro events. There are no freshmen included in these initial singles rankings although there is a list of the top 10 newcomers.

North Carolina's Hayley Carter, who finished last year ranked No. 2, is the top ranked singles player followed by Pepperdine sophomore Luisa Stefani, Ohio State sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo, Georgia junior Ellen Perez, and Miami junior Sinead Lohan.

Final Women's Singles Rankings

The final singles rankings were released on Wednesday with NCAA singles champion Danielle Collins finishing the year at No. 1.

Cal, Florida, and Ohio State each had five ranked singles players while NCAA Champion Stanford was one of six teams that had four ranked players. There were ten teams that had three ranked players including national runner-up Oklahoma State.

There were more juniors ranked in the top 125 than any other class. It was interesting to see 22 freshmen in the top 125 while the guys only had 13 freshmen ranked.

Final Women's Team Rankings

The national champion Stanford Cardinal made the jump from No. 15 all the way up to No. 1 after defeating Oklahoma State 4-3 to win the NCAA Championship. Oklahoma State moved up four spots from No. 12 to No. 8 but anyone who saw them play would say without a doubt they were a top 5 team.

Cal stayed at No. 2 after a semifinal appearance while Florida, who was No. 1, dropped to No. 3 after losing in the Round of 16 to Stanford. North Carolina fell one spot to No. 4 and Vanderbilt came up one spot to No. 5.

There were several teams that made big jumps or falls with Baylor coming up eight spots to No. 32, Rice coming up seven spots to No. 41, and TCU coming up six spots to No. 31. Duke and NC State took the biggest tumbles inside the top 50 with each falling five spots to No. 14 and No. 40 respectively.

Pre-NCAA Tournament Rankings Released

The final set of rankings that was used to determine the NCAA field for both teams and individuals was released on Thursday. There weren't many differences from what I projected on Monday with the men's at-large cut-off falling at No. 42 while the women's at-large cut-off was No. 43. The Alabama men missed the field by .08 while the Fresno State women missed the field .23.

The men's singles at-large cut-off was No. 56 since there were eight automatic qualifiers that were ranked below that number.  No. 57 Strong Kirchheimer is listed as the first alternate though past experience tells us that at least three or four alternates (if not more) will make it in due to people dropping out due to injury or fatigue.

Final Women's Ranking Projections & Potential NCAA Selections & Seeds

64 teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament with that number comprised of 32 automatic qualifiers and 32 at-large bids (the AQs are at the bottom of the link). The at-large cut-off for the women's field ended up at 43 since there were 11 conference champions that were ranked in the top 43.

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.

4/19 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.

4/12 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.

4/5 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release - Top 8 Profiles

California stays at No. 1 for the fifth week in a row with its margin over the new No. 2 North Carolina at a solid 8.75 points. Ohio State dropped to No. 3 with Georgia, Vanderbilt, Florida and Miami staying firm at No. 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Duke comes up two spots to No. 8, Pepperdine stays at No. 9, and South Carolina drops two spots to No. 10

Utah, Washington, Missouri, and Arizona all went up double digits while Tennessee, Florida State, and UT Arlington all dropped by double digits.

3/29 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release - Top 7 Profiles

California stays at No. 1 for the fourth week in a row with its margin over No. 2 Ohio State decreasing slightly from 8.81 to 7.72.  North Carolina and Georgia swapped spots yet again at No. 3 and No. 4 while Vanderbilt holds at No. 5 although the Commodores are nipping at the heels of Georgia.

Florida comes up one spot to No. 6, Miami falls one spot to No. 7, South Carolina holds at No. 8 despite its loss to Florida, Pepperdine rises two spots to No. 9 and Duke holds firm at No. 10.

3/22 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release - Top 6 Profiles

California stays at No. 1 for the third week in a row with the Bears lead over No. 2 Ohio State increasing from .37 to 8.81.  Georgia and North Carolina swapped spots for the second week in a row with the Bulldogs edging 2.08 ahead of North Carolina for No. 3. Vanderbilt returns to the top 5 after a one week absence while last week's No. 5, Pepperdine, fell to No. 11.

This set of rankings used each team's six best wins and all losses while next week's rankings will use each's seven best wins.

3/15 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release - Top 5 Profiles

California is at No. 1 for the second week in a row with Bears holding off No. 2 Ohio State by .37 points. North Carolina and Georgia swapped spots at No. 3 and No. 4 while Pepperdine rode the wave that was created by several of its best wins rising in the rankings.

South Carolina moved into the top 10 for the first time since 1983 after picking up wins last week over Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

Georgia Tech came up 15 spots from No. 34 to No. 19 after beating Wake Forest and Syracuse last week. Clemson was also a big riser coming up 21 spots from No. 42 to No. 21 after beating Syracuse and Florida State.

3/8 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release

For the second week in a row there is a new No. 1 as Cal retakes the top spot from Ohio State. Cal's five best wins weren't as good as Ohio State's but the difference this week was Ohio State having the one loss to Cal while is undefeated.

Georgia moves up from No. 7 to No. 3 after beating both Ole Miss and Mississippi State on the roast last weekend. North Carolina drops one spot from No. 3 to No. 4 while Vanderbilt moves up 3 spots from No. 8 to No. 5 after defeating Kentucky last weekend.

This week's rankings used each team's five best wins as will next week's rankings.

3/1 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release

Ladies and gentlemen we have a new #1 and it is The Ohio State University.  The Buckeyes took over the top spot from undefeated Cal due to having four top 10 wins, one of which was a road win over then # Michigan, and a total of five wins over top 24 opponents. Cal has three top 10 wins and a total of five top 20 wins.

This week's rankings used each team's five best wins as will the next two rankings after this week.

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.