Ohio State Men, Oklahoma State Women Head into This Weekend's NCAA Team Championships as Top Seeds; Moreno De Alboran Wins USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card; Gardality Reaches Final at IMG's Future Stars U12 Event

The NCAA Division I tennis committee released the brackets for the 2024 Team Championships tonight on ncaa.com, with the Ohio State men and Oklahoma State women the top seeds going into this weekend's first two rounds at 16 regional sites.

The complicated process by which the committee selects those top 16 (and top eight, who will have an opportunity to host a SuperRegional) means that the rankings that come out Thursday will not match the seeds below. The No. 17 Texas A&M men won the tiebreaker the committee uses, and will host over No. 16 South Carolina, who just reached the SEC conference tournament final.  That was the most significant departure from the rankings, but there were two changes to the women's positions as well, with Virginia moving from 6 to 5, switching with Pepperdine, and No. 15 Florida switching with No. 14 North Carolina State.

As always, thanks are in order to Chris Halioris at CollegeTennisRanks.com for providing the projections prior to the selection show. Once again, he had the 16 men's and women's hosts and the last teams to make the tournament exactly right, which reduces the anxiety for everyone as they watch the selecton show.

NCAA D-I Men's Seeds

1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. Virginia
4. TCU
5. Kentucky
6. Wake Forest
7. Tennessee
8. Columbia
9. Arizona
10. Florida State
11. Oklahoma
12. Harvard
13. Duke
14. NC State
15. Texas A&M
16. Mississippi State

NCAA D-I Women's Seeds

1. Oklahoma State

2. Stanford

3. Michigan

4. North Carolina

5. Virginia

6. Pepperdine

7. Georgia

8. UCLA

9. Texas

10. Cal

11. Southern Cal

12. Ohio State

13. Texas A&M

14. Florida

15. NC State

16. Tennessee

The details of the regionals will be forthcoming; if you have an opportunity, try to attend one in your area.  

The men's bracket is here; the women's bracket is here.

I will be making my annual contribution to the Tennis Recruiting Network NCAA Roundtable later this week, and will link to that when it is published.

The selections for the singles and doubles tournament, the last one that will be combined with the team event for at least two years, will be announced Tuesday.

The USTA officially confirmed today that former UC-Santa Barbara All-American Nicolas Moreno de Alboran has won its annual Roland Garros wild card Challenge and will be competing in the main draw in Paris for the first time next month.  The women's race, in its last week, is still up for grabs, with two WTA 125s in Europe that have US women entered, as well as the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Bonita Springs, likely to produce more points for the top contenders.

Men's Standings -- Final (current ranking in parentheses)
1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (138) -- 75
2. Mitchell Krueger (239) -- 63
3. Michael Mmoh (114) -- 50

Women's Standings -- One Week Remaining
1. Sachia Vickery (129) -- 110
2. Robin Montgomery (183) -- 83
3. Louisa Chirico (283) -- 76
4. Shelby Rogers (352) -- 67
5. Hailey Baptiste (110) -- 60
6. Katrina Scott (407) -- 58
7. Katie Volynets (105) -- 57

The IMG Future Stars event in Athens Greece, now in its third year, was earlier on the calendar than the previous two years, with the competition for 12-and-under players concluding on Sunday.

The United States had four boys and one girl competing in the tournament: Camelot Carnello, Liam Dent, Rex Kulman, Daniel Gardality and Christina Li. Gardality, 11, reached the final, where he lost to Yanru Li of China 6-1, 6-4.

Another 11-year-old from China, Ketong Guo, won the girls title, beating Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the final. 

More detalis on the tournament, including the many seminars and activities included, and the visit from top ATP pros Holger Rune and Francisco Cerundolo, can be found in this Tennis Europe article.