Tennis Channel /USTA College Tennis Top 25 — January 29, 2020
ORLANDO, Fla., January 29, 2020 – To be the best you have to beat the best. So goes the saying and the first Tennis Channel / USTA College Tennis Top 25 of 2020.
The defending NCAA champion Texas men and Stanford women sit atop the polls as they did at the conclusion of the 2019 season, the Longhorns having taken their first NCAA crown and the Cardinal their record 20th. And indeed, both teams began their seasons in impressive fashion, scoring two 4-0 victories in their respective ITA Kickoff Weekends regionals (Texas over Indiana and Florida State; Stanford over USF and Washington State).
The first poll also reflects a number of eye-catching results from the Kickoff Weekend. Click to read: the women’s recap; the men’s recap.
The SEC leads all conferences with seven teams ranked in the men’s poll, followed by five from the ACC and four each from the Big 12 — which has the most teams in the Top 10, with three — and the Pac 12.
The strength on the women’s side is bi-coastal, with the Pac 12 and ACC each landing six teams in the Top 25, with the Atlantic Coast claiming four in the Top 10.
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. First-place votes were not tallied. The maximum points a team can earn this week is 300.
MEN
Rank (End of 2019 Ranking) – Points
- (1) Texas – 300
- (3) North Carolina – 278
- (4) Florida – 261
- (5) Ohio State – 258
- (7) Baylor – 253
- (2) Wake Forest – 247
- (9) USC – 236
- (8) TCU – 219
- (11) UCLA – 190
- (12) Columbia – 170
- (16) Texas A&M – 167
- (14) Stanford – 165
- (20) South Carolina – 152
- (13) Tennessee – 139
- (24) NC State – 115
- (19) Georgia – 107
- (10) Mississippi State – 95
- (17) Illinois – 79
- (18) California – 74
- (23) Michigan – 73
- (6) Virginia – 72
- (21) Florida State – 67
- (NR) UCF – 33
- (15) Oklahoma – 29
- (NR) Kentucky – 21
Receiving Votes: Mississippi 16, Harvard 14, San Diego 13, Arizona 8, Alabama 5, Louisville 5, Dartmouth 4, Oklahoma State 4, Arizona State 1
Dropped Out: San Diego (22), Arizona State (25)
WOMEN
Rank (End of 2019 Ranking) – Points
- (1) Stanford – 299
- (2) Georgia – 283
- (3) North Carolina – 280
- (4) Duke – 263
- (9) UCLA – 248
- (6) Pepperdine – 240
- (12) Texas – 216
- (11) Michigan – 206
- (T15) NC State – 204
- (17) Florida State – 171
- (24) Ohio State – 134
- (23) Virginia – 129
- (7) Vanderbilt – 113
- (13) UCF – 112
- (5) South Carolina – 107
- (10) Oklahoma State – 106
- (NR) Princeton – 97
- (NR) Arizona State – 96
- (T15) Texas A&M – 87
- (NR) Georgia Tech – 74
- (22) California – 67
- (19) USC – 60
- (20) Tennessee – 57
- (14) Washington – 53
- (8) Kansas – 50
Receiving Votes: Florida 30, Miami (Fla.) 18, Wake Forest 16, Alabama 11, Boston College 7
Dropped Out: Miami (Fla.) (18), Florida (21), Wake Forest (25)
The weekly rankings will rate the Top 25 men’s and women’s teams in NCAA Division I and will be released each Wednesday on Tennis Channel’s and the USTA’s platforms, including the USTA’s new Top 25 home page, through the conclusion of the NCAA Championship.
The full voting panel includes: Casey Angle (former Intercollegiate Tennis Association Director of Championships); Jordan Bishop (The News Press; Stillwater, Okla.); Virgil Christian (USTA); Richard Croome (The Eagle; Bryan, Texas); Sonny Dearth (Daily Press; Newport News, Va.); Judy Dixon (former UMass women’s head coach); David Fish (Universal Tennis Ratings); Granger Huntress (Texas College Tennis); Andy Katz (NCAA.com); Bobby Knight (College Tennis Today); Brandon Moglen (Tennis Channel); Peter Smith (former USC men’s head coach); Lisa Stone (Parenting Aces) and Caitlin Thompson (Racquet Magazine).
