ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 13, 2019 – The Georgia women claimed No. 1 in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, as the Bulldogs defeated North Carolina, 4-3, in the closest of title matches to claim the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship at the University of Washington in Seattle. Georgia is this week’s women’s No. 1 in the Tennis Channel / USTA College Tennis Top 25 Rankings, the first time the Bulldogs sit atop the poll in its three seasons.
Georgia sophomore Katarina Jokic clinched victory for the Dawgs as each of the last two singles matches on went to third-set tiebreaks. After UNC junior Sara Daavettila (Williamston, Mich.) leveled the match at 3-all with a 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3) victory over Marta Gonzalez, Jokic edged junior Makenna Jones (Greenville, S.C.), 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(2), to give Georgia its sixth national title in program history.
On the men’s side, Virginia’s 5-2 toppling of previous No. 1 Wake Forest in Charlottesville shook up the Top 10 ahead of this weekend’s ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships in Champaign, Ill., Feb. 15-18. The Cavaliers’ victory, led by singles wins from freshmen Brandon Nakashima (San Diego) and Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) and sophomore Gianni Ross (Chicago), lifted Virginia into the Top 10 and buoyed Ohio State back to No. 1 for the first time since Week 3 of 2018. On the west coast, both Cal and Stanford bagged 4-3 wins over USC, with senior Sameer Kumar (Carmel, Ind.) clinching for the Cardinal, which rose to No. 8.
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 (NCAA.com); Bobby Knight (College Tennis Today); Brandon Moglen (Tennis Channel); Shannon Wrege (Tennis Recruiting Network); Michael Patrick (former University of Tennessee women’s head coach), Lisa Stone (Parenting Aces) and Caitlin Thompson (Racquet Magazine).
MEN’S POLL
Rank (Last Week) – Points
- (2) Ohio State – 300
- (4) Mississippi State – 280
- (5) Florida – 271
- (6) Texas – 264
- (1) Wake Forest – 248
- (7) UCLA – 239
- (9) North Carolina – 223
- (10) Stanford – 206
- (14) Virginia – 203
- (8) Baylor – 189
- (3) USC – 176
- (11) Illinois – 171
- (12) Notre Dame – 161
- (13) Columbia – 159
- (15) TCU – 126
- (16) Tennessee – 116
- (17) Michigan – 104
- (18) Florida State – 91
- (22) Oklahoma – 72
- (23) Alabama – 68
- (21) Texas A&M – 46
- (25) Minnesota – 36
- (24) LSU – 33
- (NR) South Carolina – 25
- (19) NC State – 23
Receiving Votes: Oregon 12, Tulane 12, California 5, Texas Tech 4, Tulsa 1.
Dropped Out: Tulane (20).
WOMEN’S POLL
Rank (Last Week) – Points
- (4) Georgia – 300
- (3) North Carolina– 288
- (1) Stanford – 276
- (2) Duke – 264
- (5) UCLA – 246
- (6) Vanderbilt – 241
- (7) Pepperdine – 220
- (9) Texas – 211
- (8) South Carolina – 206
- (T10) Michigan – 189
- (13) Ohio State – 175
- (14) Florida State – 152
- (15) Kansas – 148
- (16) Miami (Fla.) – 122
- (17) Virginia – 115
- (12) LSU – 114
- (T10) NC State – 113
- (18) Northwestern – 109
- (24) Oklahoma – 66
- (22) Florida – 50
- (19) Oklahoma State – 48
- (25) Boston College – 43
- (23) Syracuse – 26
- (21) Texas Tech – 23
- (NR) Texas A&M – 21
Receiving Votes: Washington 20, USC 19, Wake Forest 11, Kentucky 7, Washington State 5, Auburn 1, California 1.
Dropped Out: USC (20).
