NCAA Champions Georgia and Wake Forest Top First ITA Coaches Poll; Reddy and Santhosh Reach ITF J300 Quarterfinals in India; TRN's Winter National Recaps for 14s and 16s; Schick Beats Top Seed Andrade at M25 Winston-Salem

The first coaches poll of the 2026 dual match season is less significant than ever after the ITA changed its ranking procedure for 2026. These rankings used to be a starting point for the computer rankings later in the season, but they no longer serve that purpose, with a new system in place that puts all teams on the same level when results are calculated.

Yet for college tennis fans, there is still some value in this inconsequential exercise, with the top 25 teams all touting their rankings on social media today to help kickoff the season, and the chance to see what the 13 ranking committee members think of the prospects for last year's top teams.

It's obvious that the previous year's NCAA champions are going to get the benefit of any doubt, even when they've seen their top players depart.  The Georgia women lost their top three to graduation, but with their remaining talent and excellent recruiting class, they start the year at No. 1. The Bulldogs received 7 first place votes; I'm not sure what happened to the other six.

Wake Forest will not have Stefan Dostanic at the top spot this year, but with their returning class and newcomers Mees Rottgering and Aryan Shah no one is expecting a dropoff, with the Demon Deacons receiving all 13 first place votes.

Below are both Top 10s, with their rankings at the end of the 2024-25 season in parentheses. As you can see, there is very little deviation in the men's list, while three women's teams who were in the 2024-25 final Top 10 fell out in this first preseason poll: Ohio State[6], Virginia[7] and Tennessee[9].

ITA Men's DI Coaches Poll Top 10
1. Wake Forest (1)
2. Texas (3)
3. TCU (2)
4. Stanford (4)
5. Virginia (5)
6. Ohio State (6)
7. Mississippi State (10)
8. San Diego (9)
9. NC State (7)
10. Columbia (8)

ITA Women's DI Coaches Poll Top 10

1. Georgia (1)

2. Texas A&M (2)

3. North Carolina (4)

4. Auburn (8)

5. LSU (11)

6. Oklahoma (10)

7. Michigan (3)

8. Duke (5)

9. Stanford (22)

10. Oklahoma State (15)

The complete Top 25 men's list is here; the women's Top 25 list is here.

The quarterfinals are set for Thursday at the ITF J300 in New Delhi India, with both Roshan Santhosh and Vihaan Reddy advancing with wins today.

No. 4 seed Santhosh, a finalist in this tournament last year, beat Yen-Chun Wang of Taiwan 6-3, 6-4 and No. 6 seed Reddy defeated Egor Shcherbakov of Russia 6-2, 6-2.  Santhosh will face No. 7 seed Min Hyuk Cho of Korea in the quarterfinals, while Reddy meets No. 3 seed Damir Zhalgasbay of Kazakhstan.  Seven of the top eight seeds have advanced to the quarterfinals, with qualifier Jang Junseo of Korea, the 2025 IMG Academy International 16s champion, the eighth quarterfinalist.

Anya Arora, the only US girl in the second round, retired in her match against wild card Prisha Nikhil Shinde of India.

The recaps of last week's USTA Winter Nationals in the 14s and 16s division have been published at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Andres Quijada and Oleana Zerres swept the titles in the 14s; Shristi Selvan and Nile Ung claimed their first USTA balls in the 16s, with those first balls champion's gold.

At the M25 in Winston-Salem, recent NC State graduate Braden Shick got his first ATP Top 300 win, beating top seed Andres Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-4. Other Americans advancing to the second round are Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern), Stefan Dostanic, who beat No. 4 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France 7-5, 6-1; Jack Kennedy, No. 8 seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia), No. 5 seed Keegan Smith(UCLA), Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon), No. 3 seed Daniel Milvasky(Harvard) and qualifier Theo Dean(Yale, Cal).

Wake Forest wild cards Rottgering and Luca Pow also advanced to Thursday's second round.