Aney to North Carolina; Halbauer Prepares for Family Circle Cup Qualifying; New Names Atop ITA Rankings in Division II and Division III

My article for the Tennis Recruiting Network this week is about 15-year-old Jessie Aney and her decision to commit to the University of North Carolina for the fall of 2015.  I interviewed Aney earlier this month in Mobile, where she played No. 1 in the 18s division for the Tornados, who won the first USTA Team Championships.  As many of you already know, Aney is one of the best girls hockey players in the state of Minnesota, and therefore the country, but she has decided to concentrate on tennis in college. She will be 17 when she enters school, having accelerated her online schooling.  Few juniors can match her composure on the court, and her unabashed love of Roger Federer will also make her a popular teammate in Chapel Hill, I'm sure.

I wrote about Ellie Halbauer's wild card for the WTA Family Circle Cup qualifying last month, which she won in a tournament that included a victory over Orange Bowl champion Varvara Flink of Russia.  Qualifying begins on Saturday, and Halbauer, who is originally from the Charleston, South Carolina area, has gotten quite a bit of press on her upcoming appearance.  This was also true when local Shelby Rogers won the qualifying wild card in the same tournament back in 2010. (Rogers received a main draw wild card this year, as has Nadia Petrova of Russia and Melanie Oudin.)  Here's the latest article on Halbauer and her decision to leave the area for South Florida to train. There is one error in the article, which states Halbauer "was able to accept only expense money for her Hilton Head win," in reference to her title at the Hilton Head $10,000 tournament last fall.  That used to be the rule prior to August of 2013, but the NCAA has since changed that.  A link to the new rule is here.

Tornado Alicia Black, Taylor Townsend and Grace Min have also been announced as qualifying wild cards for the Family Circle Cup.

The ITA released the new team rankings for Division II and Division III earlier this week, with two new schools at the top of the men's lists.

The University of West Florida has taken the No. 1 spot from Barry, ending Barry's 41-match winning streak earlier this month. West Florida's No.1 player Bruno Savi is the top-ranked singles player in men's Division II competition.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has taken the top spot in Division III men's tennis, beating previous No. 1 Washington University, Saint Louis, and also topping Amherst to remain undefeated.  They played UCLA earlier this week, and for more on that match, see this article from the CMS website.

Johns Hopkins retains the top spot in women's Division III, but there is a new No. 1 in Division II, with the undefeated Barry women claiming it after a victory over previous No. 1 Armstrong Atlantic.  Valentine Confalonieri of Lynn University is the No. 1 singles player in the Division II individual rankings.

The ITA release on Division III is here, and the Division II release is here.