UCLA's Thompson, UNC's Loeb Top Seeds for NCAA D-I Individual Tournament; Chirico Signs with Octagon

The NCAA released the names of the participants in the next month's NCAA individual singles and doubles tournaments, which runs from May 21-26 in Athens, Georgia.  The seeds for the tournaments were also announced, but the draws will not come out until May 20th.

The women's singles seeds:

1. Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
2. Robin Anderson, UCLA
3. Kristie Ahn, Stanford
4. Julie Elbaba, Virginia
5. Beatrice Capra, Duke
6. Lauren Herring, Georgia
7. Hayley Carter, North Carolina
8. Jennifer Brady, UCLA

Seeds 9-16, listed alphabetically by last name:

Breaunna Addison, Texas
Emina Bektas, Michigan
Silvia Garcia, Georgia
Olivia Janowicz, Florida
Jenny Jullien, St. Mary’s (Calif.)
Anett Schutting, California
Cristina Stancu, Texas A&M
Chanelle Van Nguyen, UCLA

There are no fewer than six women in the field who made the round of 16 in last year's NCAA singles tournament but are not seeded this year: Zsofi Susanyi, Cal; Yana Koroleva, Clemson; Krista Hardebeck, Stanford; Caroline Price, North Carolina; Stefanie Tan, TCU; Petra Niedermayerova, Kansas State.

Stanford has the distinction of placing all six of their starters in the field of 64.

The men's singles seeds:
1. Clay Thompson, UCLA
2. Marcos Giron, UCLA (the USTA's College Spotlight on Giron is here)
3. Julian Lenz, Baylor
4. Mitchell Frank, Virginia
5. Guillermo Alcorta, Oklahoma
6. Alex Domijan, Virginia
7. Axel Alvarez Llamas, Oklahoma
8. Jared Hiltzik, Illinois

Seeds 9-16, listed alphabetically by last name:
Yannick Hanfmann, USC
Søren Hess-Olesen, Texas
Tom Jomby, Kentucky
Peter Kobelt, Ohio State
Patrick Pradella, Baylor
Ray Sarmiento, USC
Brayden Schnur, North Carolina
Nik Scholtz, Ole Miss

The only player who reached the Round of 16 last year who is in the field but not seeded this year is Alex Sarkissian of Pepperdine.

The women's doubles seeds:
1. Jennifer Brady and Robin Anderson, UCLA
2. Lauren Herring and Maho Kowase, Georgia
3. Jamie Loeb and Hayley Carter, North Carolina
4. Erin Routliffe and Maya Jansen, Alabama

Seeds 5-8, listed alphabetically by institution:

Beatrice Capra and Hanna Mar, Duke
Kendall Woodard and Megan Kurey, Georgia Tech
Monique Albuquerque and Clementina Riobueno, Miami
Julia Elbaba and Rachel Pierson, Virginia

The men's doubles seeds:
1. Ray Sarmiento and Yannick Hanfmann, USC
2. Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese Tennessee
3. Gonzales Austin and Ryan Lipman Vanderbilt
4. Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka Ohio State

Seeds 5-8, listed alphabetically by institution:
Becker O'Shaughnessey and Daniil Proskura, Alabama
Ben Wagland and Hernus Pieters, Georgia
Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon, Illinois
Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow, Texas A&M

Whether the committee deviated at all from the rankings won't be known until Thursday, when the ITA releases to the public the rankings the committee used.

The women's NCAA release, which lists all the participants and the alternates, is here, the men's release is here.

Octagon, one of the major sports management agencies, announced today that it had signed Louisa Chirico, meaning she has given up her college eligibility.  Chirico, who turns 18 in a couple of weeks, is 24 in the ITF junior rankings and 322 in the WTA rankings.  The release, which can be found here, says that Chirico will compete in the WTA Strasbourg tournament May 19th.