College Tennis News Update: New Format Trial for D-III, Dunlop Named Official Ball for ITA Events, Up-to-date List of ITA Summer Championships Qualifiers, Recent D-I Coaching Hires; Nebraska Challenger Announces Field

Although I spoke with plenty of Division I college coaches last week at the Wimbledon Junior Championships, I haven't had a chance to post all the news that's been released the past several weeks regarding college tennis.

The ITA announced a one-year pilot for Division III tennis, which is basically the same as Division I, with the best of seven points deciding a dual match winner, in contrast to the best of nine points that has been the format for many years. In Division III, each doubles match has been worth a point, rather than the one point for the team that wins two of the three doubles matches (which are just one set of no-ad doubles) in Division I. 

The D-III pilot will have one deviation from D-I in non-conference matches, with all three doubles matches played to conclusion, rather than the D-I play-to-clinch.

It's important to note that this does not apply to conference matches, if the conferences have mandated different rules, and also does not apply to ITA National events.  From the July 16 ITA release:

Conferences and team tournaments (ITA Team Indoor Championships, NCAA Championships, etc.) can still set their own policies related to play-play, clinch-play, or clinch-clinch formats.

Those same stipulations will apply to the July 1 ITA announcement that Dunlop is now the organization's official ball, racquet and accessory brand. Wilson, a longtime sponsor and supporter of the ITA, is the ball of choice for many conferences, so players will be making adjustments to a new ball for ITA events, which is common in pro tennis, but not prevalent in the collegiate game. 

The release states that the change took effect on July 1, with all ITA-sanctioned events using Dunlop tennis balls during competition.

I take that to mean that the switch happened in the midst of the ITA Summer Circuit, which continues for two more weeks, culminating in the ITA Summer Championships August 10-13 at the new Leftwich Tennis Center in Memphis Tennessee.

The latest list of qualifiers for the event can be found in this ITA recap of Week 4 of the ITA Summer Masters series.

In coaching news the past few weeks, Chris Russell announced his retirement from the men's head coaching position at New Mexico, which he had held for three seasons.

Utah has hired RuthAnn Allen as it's women's head coach. A former All-American at Utah and an assistant coach there for 20 years, Allen spent the past five years as head coach at Weber State. Allen replaces Ric Mortera, who led the program for five years.

Elizabeth Begley has been named women's head coach at Princeton, returning to the program where she was an assistant from 2015-2018. Begley, an assistant at USC the past three years, replaces Jamea Jackson, who took the women's head coaching position at Arizona State earlier this summer.

The new UNLV women's head coach is Tetiana Luzhanska, who was elevated to the position after serving as an assistant in Las Vegas since 2018.  She replaces Kevin Cory, who resigned after 25 years leading the program.

Former University of Texas standout Dimi Kutrovsky, who has been the assistant at Alabama for the past five years, has been named men's head coach at Virginia Commonwealth. He replaces Anthony Rossi, who left VCU to be Adam Steinberg's associate head coach at Florida. 

A recent addition to the ATP Challenger calendar is the new 75 event in Lincoln Nebraska, scheduled to take place August 5-11. This tournament is not part of the USTA Pro Circuit, but will count toward the US Open Wild Card Challenge, which concludes that week. ATP No. 58 Dan Evans of Great Britain and Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech) are two of the notable entrants. Eubanks has reached the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Newport this week and will play Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia for a spot in the semifinals. The release announcing Lincoln's field is below:

Evans & Eubanks to highlight the inaugural Lincoln Challenger, ATP Challenger Tour event, player field.

LINCOLN, Neb (July 16, 2024) - The Lincoln Challenger has officially announced the 2024 Main Draw Singles player field. What is considered a strong field for an ATP Challenger 75 event, is highlighted by world No. 58 Daniel Evans, of Great Britain. Evans, who reached a career high of No. 21 last August, has been to the 4^th Round of both the Australian Open and the US Open. 

Evans will be joined in Lincoln by American Chris Eubanks. Eubanks, who is currently ranked No. 128 in the world, reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon last year. Eubanks reached his career high of No. 29 last July, on the heels of his run at Wimbledon. 

"We are excited to have such a dynamic player field, for this first year event," said Alex Guthrie, Tournament Director of the Lincoln Challenger. "Between having a player who is top 60 in the world in Dan Evans, having a 2023 Wimbledon Quarterfinalist in Chris Eubanks, and having a lot of young Americans in the field, there will not be a shortage of story lines in Lincoln." 

Other top Americans that will head to Lincoln include No. 113 Zachary Svajda, No. 148 Emilio Nava, No. 187 Mitchell Krueger and No. 188 Martin Damm. 

Full Player List 

Daniel Evans - GBR, No. 58

Luca Van Assche - FRA, No. 104

Zachary Svajda - USA, No. 113

Valentin Vacherot - MCO, No. 115

Harold Mayot - FRA, No. 124

Christopher Eubanks, USA, No. 128

Duje Ajdukovic, CRO, No. 130

Mikhail Kukushkin, KAZ, No. 135

Felipe Meligeni Alves, BRA, No. 144

Emilio Nava, USA, No. 148

Denis Yevseyev, KAZ, No. 160

Yunchaokete Bu, CHN, No. 174

Borna Gojo, CRO, No. 176

Coleman Wang, HKG, No. 179

Mitchell Krueger, USA, No. 187

Martin Damm, USA, No. 188

Tristan Schoolkate, AUS, No. 190

Yosuke Watanuki, JPN, No. 200

Beibit Zhukayev, KAZ, No. 201  

Ozan Baris, USA, No. 629 (ITA Exemption Spot)

Cooper Williams, USA, No. 1057 (ITF Jr Exemption Spot)

For tickets and more information on the Lincoln Challenger, please visit www.lincolnchallenger.com

Inquiries: Alex Guthrie, Tournament Director: alex@topnotchmanagement.com