North Carolina Tar Heels Remain Atop the Women’s Collegiate Rankings

April 15, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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The undefeated North Carolina Tar Heels have regained the top spot women's ranking for the first time in a month, while the Oklahoma Sooners extended their number one ranking streak to seven weeks on the men's side in the ITA Division I National Team Rankings.

North Carolina is back on top this week after being ranked number two for the last three weeks. The 24-0 Tar Heels picked up a key ACC win this week over the 12th-ranked Virginia, by a 4-3 score in Chapel Hill, and bumped the 20-2 USC Trojans out of the number one spot. One of USC's two losses this season was to Virginia during the ITA Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championship.  

In the SEC, the Florida Gators picked up a key conference win over the Georgia Bulldogs, taking the Top 10 matchup 4-3 in Gainesville. The win helped boost Florida from number six to numbwer three in the ITA Rankings this week and dropped Georgia from fifth to sixth. It also landed the Gators the number one seed in the SEC tournament.  

Trailing Georgia at number seven in the rankings are the Texas A&M Aggies, who continued their late-season surge by picking up Top 10 wins at number eight Baylor and against the ninth-ranked Vanderbilt this week. The SEC has eight teams ranked in the Top 25 this week, tying the conference's season-high from February.

In the Ivy League, Princeton put itself in the pole position after beating number 35 Dartmouth and Harvard on the road over the weekend. The wins catapulted the Tigers from number 53 to number 40 this week and secured a second-straight Ivy League title share, with a chance to win the league outright by beating either number 75 Cornell or number 46 Columbia next week.

On the men's side, the top four remained the same for the third consecutive week, with Oklahoma and Baylor holding the numnber one and two spots despite a very active weekend in the Big 12. The top-ranked Sooners edged number two Baylor, 4-3, in front of 1,479 fans on Friday to earn its third win over the Bears this season. Baylor rebounded with a 4-0 win over the 25th-ranked Oklahoma State, but the Sooners were dealt their second loss of the season and first in Big 12 play by Texas Tech on Sunday. The Red Raiders' first win over a number one in program history ushered them seven spots up the rankings to 16th, their highest ranking this year.

Another Big 12 team climbed to new heights this week, as TCU posted a second 4-0 win over Texas A&M this season and rose three spots to number 7. The Horned Frogs have registered three shutouts over Top 10 opponents this season and have been ranked in the Top 10 since March 24.

Stanford also made significant noise in conference play, defeating Pac-12 rivals USC (number five) and UCLA (number 15) to move to 6-0 in conference action and extended its winning streak to nine matches. The Cardinals lost to both the Trojans and Bruins in late February, but have not been beaten since their Feb. 28th loss to UCLA. With the pair of wins, Stanford entered the Top 25 for the first time this season, jumping 12 spots to its current ranking of 24th.

In individual play, Oklahoma's Axel Alvarez topped number one Julian Lenz of Baylor to earn the top men's singles ranking. Alvarez is in the midst of a 19-match winning streak which spans the entire dual match season and dates back to Jan. 19. Alvarez is joined by UCLA's Robin Anderson atop the singles rankings, as Anderson remained number one for the third straight edition of the women's singles rankings.

Also ranking number one for the third straight time are Georgia's Austin Smith & Ben Wagland, who lead the men's doubles rankings. On the women's side, Alabama's 2014 NCAA doubles champion duo of Maya Jansen & Erin Routliffe are back on top for the first time since the September preseason rankings.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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