Stanford, Wake Forest Top ITA D-I Team Rankings; UTR Announces New Ownership; Eddie Herr Videos

The first team rankings of the Division I spring season have been released, with the Top 25 decided by polls.  The team rankings will be done by poll until after the Team Indoor Championships in February.

In the women's rankings, 2017 NCAA runner-up Stanford takes the top spot, with champion Florida coming in at No. 3. Texas made a big jump since the final rankings back in June, moving from 22 to 12, mostly, I would guess, due to the results of the Turati twins this fall.  Ohio State fell from 3 to 13, with their No. 1, Francesca Di Lorenzo, deciding to turn pro. Sofia Sewing at Miami and Usue Arconada at LSU are high-profile recruits joining their teams in January, but neither are currently appearing on the published rosters.

Women's Division I rankings: (final 2017 ranking in parentheses)
January 3, 2018

1. Stanford (2)
2. Vanderbilt (4)
3. Florida (1)
4. Georgia (6)
5. North Carolina (5)
6. Pepperdine (8)
7. Georgia Tech (9)
8. Texas Tech (7)
9. Duke (12)
10. Michigan (11)
11. California (13)
12. Texas (22)
13. Ohio State (3)
14. Auburn (14)
15. South Carolina (15)
16. Oklahoma State (10)
17. UCLA (23)
18. Arkansas (19)
19. Miami (25)
20. Baylor (17)
21. Kentucky (18)
22. LSU (21)
23. Ole Miss (32)
24. Arizona State (34)
25. TCU (28)

Others Receiving Votes: University of Tennessee, North Carolina State, Florida State, Mississippi State, University of Southern California, Northwestern University, Texas A&M

In the men's rankings, NCAA champion Virginia fell all the way to No. 12, with the loss of 4 of their top 6 and head coach Brian Boland. Gianni Ross is joining the Cavaliers this month and is on the roster, but it's no doubt a rebuilding year in Charlottesville. Their ACC rival Wake Forest is No. 1 in the rankings.  Kalamazoo 18s champion Patrick Kypson is said to be enrolling at Texas A&M this semester, and Benjamin Sigouin of Canada is joining the Tar Heels, but neither is currently showing on the published rosters. Stanford didn't get much of a bump in the rankings for adding the 2017 ITF World Junior Champion Axel Geller, going from 16 to 13.

Men's Division I rankings: (final 2017 ranking in parentheses)
January 3, 2018

1. Wake Forest (2)
2. Ohio State (4)
3. North Carolina (3)
4. Georgia (7)
5. Southern California (6)
6. UCLA (5)
7. Texas A&M (12)
8. Texas (11)
9. Florida (14)
10. TCU (8)
11. Baylor (9)
12. Virginia (1)
13. Stanford (16)
14. Mississippi State (18)
15. Oklahoma State (15)
16. Illinois (20)
17. Michigan (17)
18. Oklahoma (13)
19. California (10)
20. South Carolina (21)
21. Florida State (31)
22. Tulane University (30)
23. Columbia (25)
24. Texas Tech (32)
25. Duke University (35)

Others Receiving Votes: University of Oregon, University of Kentucky, Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin, University of South Florida, Arizona State, UCF

The Universal Tennis, the company that has developed the Universal Tennis Rating system, announced today that it has a new CEO, ownership group and partners. The partners include Major League Baseball and, in what is certainly more relevant, the Tennis Channel, which will begin using the ratings on-air this year.  This new ownership group, which includes Mark Hurd, the CEO of Oracle who has contributed so much lately to college tennis, should provide the financial backing necessary to take adoption of the system to another level.  Read the complete press release here.

I've been working on processing the videos and photos from the major Florida junior tournaments last month, and I have finished with the Eddie Herr.  The photos of the 12s and 14s are here, the photos of the 16s and 18s are here, and the videos of the champions are embedded below.  The videos of the finalists are available by clicking on their names below, which will take you to the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

Boys ITF finalist Timofey Skatov
Girls ITF finalist Clara Burel
Boys 16s finalist Nicholas-David Ionel
Girls 16s finalist Kailey Evans
Boys 14s finalist Alexander Bernard
Girls 14s finalist Linda Fruhvirtova
Boys 12s finalist Lennon Jones
Girls 12s finalist Tsehay Driscoll