Tennessee, Florida, Hold Slight Edge at No. 1 in Campbell/ITA Team Rankings
USC Sweeps Top Singles Rankings with Johnson, Sanchez

SKILLMAN, N.J. - Entering the third week since the Campbell/ITA Rankings switched from a poll to a computer point-per-match formula, which is well-known to cause several dramatic changes throughout the rankings, a new team appears at No. 1, joining Florida, who jumped Stanford just two weeks ago.

 

Thanks in part to an ultra-competitive SEC schedule and garnering several big wins on the road, the Tennessee men's team has jumped Virginia, who had previously held the top spot since the preseason Campbell/ITA Rankings were released last fall. The two teams' resumes look eerily similar with each team posting wins over Duke, Illinois and Kentucky.

 

Even though UVA beat Tennessee in the finals of the ITA Men's Team Indoor Championship last month, Tennessee has a slight edge in ranking points, picking up five wins against the top 10 and seven against the top 20, while Virginia has knocked off four and six teams, respectively. However, the most important factor for the change at the top is due to the 10% bonus that is received for earning a road victory. Of this week's top five countable wins, Tennessee has beaten three away, while Virginia has yet to record a road win against a top-15 opponent.

The Vols (13-1, 3-0 SEC) tacked on two more top-25 victories this past weekend against stiff SEC competition, knocking off Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The match versus Kentucky was dubbed "a defining performance", by Head Coach Sam Winterbotham. After starting singles from behind, losing the doubles point for just the second time this season, and up 3-2, all eyes were focused on court 1 for the anticipated rematch between J.P. Smith (Tennessee) and Eric Quigley (Kentucky).

 Quigley took the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (1) before an epic second-straight tiebreaker in which Smith and Quigley played 32 points and Smith faced six match points before winning the tiebreaker 17-15 to send the match to a third set. In the third set, behind a series of strong serves, Smith closed out the victory 6-7 (1), 7-6 (15), 6-4 to clinch the win for the Vols. Teammates immediately rushed forward to celebrate with Smith, who captured his team-leading 30th win of the season and the 140th of his career, tying Shelby Cannon for third on UT's all-time wins list.

 

Meanwhile, the Gators continued to take care of business in conference play with a 6-1 and 4-0 pair of victories over Alabama and Auburn, respectively. UF posted its 98th consecutive regular-season home match and improved to 168-1 all-time at home versus SEC teams.
 
Follow the Leader:For the men, following Tennessee is (in order): Virginia, USC, Ohio State, California, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Illinois and Duke. On the women's side, Florida is followed by: Stanford, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan, Miami (FL), Georgia, UCLA, USC and Baylor.

 Conference Count: The number of men's and women's teams from each conference that appear in the Campbell/ITA Division I Top 25 Rankings are listed numerically. Men's Top 25: Pac-10 and SEC - 5; ACC and Big Ten - 4; Big 12 - 3; WCC - 2 and Big East - 1. Women's Top 25: ACC - 6; Pac-10 and SEC - 5; Big 12 - 3; Big Ten - 2 and Big East, Conference USA, Ivy League and WCC - 1.

 Up A Set:  A listing of all of the upsets from both men's and women's college tennis from the previous week. All results listed are from Monday, March 7^th through Sunday, March 13^th.

 MEN

at #7 USC	def.	#3 Texas	5-2
at #30 North Carolina	def.	#3 Texas	5-2
at #13 Pepperdine	def.	#4 Duke	4-3
at #14 California	def.	#4 Duke	4-3
at #17 Texas A&M	def.	#5 Ohio State	4-0
at #25 Notre Dame	def.	#6 Illinois	5-2
at #17 Texas A&M	def.	#6 Illinois	7-0
#37 Tulsa	def.	at #12 Michigan	4-3
#14 California	def.	at #13 Pepperdine	4-3
at #32 Miami (Florida)	def.	#16 Georgia Tech	4-3
at #56 LSU	def.	#22 Mississippi	4-2

WOMEN

#6 North Carolina	def.	at #3 Miami (Florida)	4-3
at #6 North Carolina	def.	#4 Michigan	4-3
at #31 Arizona State	def.	#7 California	4-3
at #21 Tennessee	def.	#8 Vanderbilt	5-2
at #11 Georgia	def.	#8 Vanderbilt	6-1
at #10 UCLA	def.	#9 Baylor	6-1
at Oregon	def.	#20 Washington	4-3
#41 North Carolina State	def.	at #25 VCU	5-2

 March Madness: March Madness is in full swing for those following college athletics. The 68 men's teams selected to the 2011 NCAA Division I Basketball Championships were announced last Sunday, while the women's selections were announced yesterday. Many of the teams selected to compete for the NCAA basketball title are also battling on the tennis courts. Of the 68 men's teams selected to the Big Dance, 27 are currently ranked in the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings, with 16 appearing in the top 25. On the women's side, 25 teams are represented in the college tennis rankings, while 14 teams are also included in the top 25.

 Twice as Nice: The San Diego women join the Miami (FL) and North Carolina men as newcomers to the top 25 this week, propelling their respective teams to be included among the 17 institutions to that have both their men's and women's programs ranked inside this the Campbell/ITA Top 25 Rankings.
 

 

Singled Out:

 

Rank	Player	School		Rank	Player	School
1	Steve Johnson	USC		1	Maria Sanchez	USC
2	Alex Domijan	Virginia		2	Hilary Barte	Stanford
3	Rhyne Williams	Tennessee		3	Kristy Frilling	Notre Dame
4	Eric Quigley	Kentucky		4	Jana Juricova	California
5	Blaz Rola	Ohio State		5	Denise Dy	Washington
6	Alexandre Lacroix	Florida		6	Bianca Eickhorn	Miami (FL)
7	Dennis Nevolo	Illinois		7	Allie Will	Florida
8	Michael Shabaz	Virginia		8	Denise Muresan	Michigan
9	Reid Carleton	Duke		9	Marta Lesniak	SMU
10	Bradley Klahn	Stanford		10	Reka Zsilinszka	Duke

 

Double Dose:

 

Rk.	Player	Player	School		Rk.	Player	Player	School
1	Boris Conkic	J.P. Smith	Tennessee		1	Josipa Bek	Keri Wong	Clemson
2	Jeff Dadamo	Austin Krajicek	Texas A&M		2	Hilary Barte	Mallory Burdette	Stanford
3	Drew Courtney	Michael Shabaz	Virginia		3	Mari Andersson	Jana Juricova	California
4	Henrique Cunha	Reid Carleton	Duke		4	Sofie Oyen	Allie Will	Florida
5	Jean Anderson	Ed Corrie	Texas		5	Shinann Featherston	Lauren McHale	UNC

 Coming Up Next: The 2011 Campbell/ITA Team Rankings continue next Tuesday, March 22^nd, as well as the next singles and doubles rankings, which will continue to be published every other week for the rest of the season.

 

 
Campbell/ITA College Tennis rankings can be found at www.itatennis.com