Tennis Channel / USTA College Tennis Top 25 — January 30, 2019
ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 30, 2019 – New year. New name. Same teams on top.
The first edition of the weekly Tennis Channel / USTA College Tennis Top 25 Rankings of 2019 features the defending-NCAA champion Wake Forest men and Stanford women ranked No. 1, with Wake Forest receiving the maximum number of points atop the men’s poll.
With Tennis Channel on board as a partner for the first time, the Demon Deacons lead six ACC programs in the men’s Top 25 and remain the team to unseat, with a 16-point cushion over 2018 runners-up Ohio State and star junior JJ Wolf (Cincinnati). Junior Brandon Holt (Rolling Hills, Calif.) and the USC Trojans lead three Pac-12 teams in the Top 10, while Mississippi State, tied for third with USC, and No. 5 Florida, led by sophomore Oliver Crawford (Spartanburg, S.C.) and freshman Sam Riffice (Orlando), are among the seven SEC programs ranked in the men’s poll, the most of any conference.
The defending-champion Cardinal, who return their entire singles and doubles lineup from last year’s NCAA title squad, grace the top of the Week 1 women’s poll for the second straight year, with 2018 runner-up Vanderbilt beginning the year at No. 4. Second-ranked Duke and third-ranked North Carolina each have two of the ITA’s Top 10 women’s singles players, as the Blue Devils, with No. 8 Maria Mateas (Fr., Chapel Hill, N.C.) and No. 10 Meible Chi (Jr., Weston, Fla.), and the Tar Heels, led by No. 2 Makenna Jones (Jr., Greenville, S.C.) and No. 4 Sara Daavettila (Jr., Williamston, Mich.) lead eight teams from the ACC in the Top 25. Bookending the Top 5 with California schools, meanwhile, is UCLA and blue-chip freshmen Taylor Johnson (Prescott, Ariz.) and Elysia Bolton (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.).
Each team’s point total, specified below, is the sum of its ranking points from the USTA’s panel of 14 voters (listed below). Each voter ranked 25 teams from Nos. 1 to 25, with the first-place team receiving 25 points and the last place team receiving one. For control, the highest and lowest outlying ranking for each team on the ballot was removed. Therefore, the maximum number of points a team can receive is 300. First-place votes were not tallied.
The full list of voters participating in the 2019 rankings are: Casey Angle (former Intercollegiate Tennis Association Director of Championships); Jordan Bishop (The News Press; Stillwater, Okla.); Virgil Christian (USTA Collegiate Tennis); Richard Croome (The Eagle; Bryan, Texas); Sonny Dearth (Daily Press; Newport News, Va.); Granger Huntress (Texas College Tennis); David Fish (Universal Tennis Ratings); Andy Katz (College sports reporter); Bobby Knight (College Tennis Today); Brandon Moglen (Tennis Channel); Dallas Oliver/Shannon Wrege (Tennis Recruiting Network); Michael Patrick (former University of Tennessee women’s head coach), Lisa Stone (Parenting Aces) and Caitlin Thompson (Racquet Magazine).
A number of these programs will be showcased nationally this season on Tennis Channel, via the live College MatchDay series from the USTA National Campus in Orlando. The College MatchDay schedule begins with a matchup between the Florida and Florida State men on Saturday, February 2, at 6 p.m. ET.
MEN’S POLL
Rank (End of 2018 Ranking) – Points
1. (1) Wake Forest – 300
2. (2) Ohio State – 284
T3. (5) Mississippi State – 258
T3. (6) USC – 258
5. (8) Florida – 246
6. (3) UCLA – 243
7. (9) North Carolina – 238
8. (11) Texas – 214
9. (12) Stanford – 196
10. (19) Baylor – 172
11. (7) Illinois – 167
12. (14) Columbia – 148
13. (NR) Virginia – 145
14. (4) Texas A&M – 140
15. (NR) Notre Dame – 122
16. (11) TCU – 120
17. (T25) Tulane – 117
18. (20) Alabama – 100
19. (15) Florida State – 96
20. (18) Oklahoma – 86
21. (13) Michigan – 54
22. (22) Tennessee – 41
23. (23) Oklahoma State – 40
24. (NR) NC State – 14
T25. (T25) Georgia – 13
T25. (21) Vanderbilt – 13
Receiving Votes: Tulsa 10, Oregon 8, Dartmouth 7, Minnesota 6, Arizona State 2, Kentucky 2, Memphis 2.
Dropped Out (from 2018): Harvard, Minnesota, Mississippi.
WOMEN’S POLL
Rank (End of 2018 Ranking) – Points
1. (1) Stanford – 299
2. (3) Duke – 283
3. (6) North Carolina – 269
4. (2) Vanderbilt – 268
5. (5) UCLA – 247
6. (8) Georgia – 236
7. (9) Pepperdine – 224
8. (10) Texas – 223
9. (18) Oklahoma State – 185
10. (13) South Carolina – 149
11. (7) Texas Tech – 139
T12. (11) Florida State – 121
T12. (NR) Ohio State – 121
14. (14) Northwestern – 110
15. (NR) LSU – 105
16. (20) Kansas – 103
17. (NR) Syracuse – 96
18. (15) Miami (Fla.) – 84
19. (NR) NC State – 77
20. (16) Florida – 59
21. (19) Michigan – 53
T22. (4) Georgia Tech – 52
T22. (25) Virginia – 52
24. (22) Baylor – 47
25. (NR) USC – 38
Receiving Votes: Mississippi 29, California 27, Tennessee 27, UCF 25, Auburn 18, Kentucky 15, Wake Forest 12, Oklahoma 10, Arizona State 8, Texas A&M 5, Purdue 3, Tulsa 3.
Dropped Out (from 2018): Illinois, Mississippi, Oregon, Tulsa, UCF
