NCAA D-I Team Championships Begin Friday, My Thoughts at TRN's Roundtable; Stoiana Takes Over Top Spot in Singles; Jovic Upset at Bonita Springs W100; Kennedy and Willwerth to Meet in M15 Orange Park Quarterfinals

The NCAA Division I Team Championships begin Friday with all 32 women's first round matches and 16 men's first round matches at regionals across the country. The times can be found on the ncaa.com draws, with the men's here and the women's here. You can also find all the matchups at collegetennisranks.com, where you can sort by time. And while you're there, enter the annual Bracket Challenge, with the deadline 10 am on Friday morning. This year, gift cards from the Cracked Racquets merchandise store are being offered as prizes, so more than just bragging rights is on the line.

Cracked Racquets will be providing their CrossCourt coverage of 25 of the 32 regionals this weekend; see their YouTube Channel for the multiple streams they will be using.

As is the case every May, I participate in the Tennis Recruiting Network's annual roundtable discussion on the upcoming tournament. 2025's Part I was published today, with the panelists discussing the top storylines of the season and the Super Regional matchups we'd like to see.  Part II, with predictions, will be out tomorrow morning.

The latest ITA rankings were published today, with no changes in the men's Top 10, although it's now obvious who was bumped out of that seeding position due to the formula the committee uses for that purpose. The women's Top 10 changed positions, although no new teams entered; Ohio State's win over Michigan in the Big Ten final Saturday night, which moved the Buckeyes to No. 4, was responsible for the re-ordering.

In the individual rankings, Texas A&M's Mary Stoiana moved to No. 1, switching places with NCAA fall singles champion Dasha Vidmanova of Georgia, who Stoiana has beaten in their recent two meetings. Vidmanova moved up to the top spot in doubles however, with Mell Reasco; fall NCAA champions Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard dropped from No. 1 to No. 3. Click on the headings for the full ranking.

ITA Division I rankings, May 1, 2025

Men's Team Top 10:

(previous week's rankings in parentheses:

1. Wake Forest (1)

2. TCU (2)

3. Texas (3)

4. Virginia (4)

5. Stanford (5)

6. Ohio State (6)

7. San Diego (7)

8. NC State (8)

9. Columbia (9)

10. Arizona (10)

Men's Singles Top 10:

1. Timo Legout, Texas

2. Michael Zheng, Columbia

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

5. Colton Smith, Arizona

6. Jay Friend, Arizona

7. Samir Banerjee, Stanford

8. Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

9. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

10. Pedro Vives, TCU

Men's Doubles Top 5:

1. Petar Jovanovic and Benita Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

2. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

3. Lucas Andrade da Silva and Connor Thomson, South Carolina

4. Togan Tokac and Theo Papamalamis, Texas A&M

5. Charlie Robertson and DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Women's Team Top 10:

1. Georgia (1)

2. Texas A&M (2)

3. Michigan (3)

4. Ohio State (9)

5. North Carolina (5)

6. Oklahoma (4)

7. Virginia (6)

8. Duke (8)

9. Auburn (7)

10. Tennessee (10)

Women's Singles Top 10:

1. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

2. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

3. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

4. DJ Bennett, Auburn

5. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

6. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

7. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

8. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

10. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

Women's Doubles Top 5: 

1. Mell Reasco and Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Alanis Hamilton and Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

3. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

4. Mao Mushika and Jessica Alsola, Cal

5. Cadence Brace and Kayla Cross, LSU

The second round of the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Bonita Springs Florida produced a shocker today, with top seed and Charlottesville champion Iva Jovic losing to qualifier Katarina Jokic(Georgia) lf Serbia 6-1, 6-1. Jokic, the 2019 NCAA singles finalist, prevented Laura Pigossi of Brazil from getting a rematch of last week's three and a half hour semifinal she lost to Jovic. Pigossi beat Maria Mateas(Duke) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Eighteen-year-old Akasha Urhobo, who had beaten No. 2 seed Arina Rodionova of Australia in the first round, lost qualifier Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia 7-5, 6-3.

With Jovic losing today, I believe that Whitney Osuigwe still has an opportunity to claim the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge with a title in Bonita Springs. Osuigwe, the No. 4 seed, breezed past Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden 6-0, 6-2 and will play Anna Rogers(NC State) in the quarterfinals Friday.

In Boca Raton Florida, the second round of the W35 was tough on the teenagers, with Mayu Crossley of Japan and wild cards Monika Ekstrand, Alexis Nguyen and Zaire Clarke all going out. The only Americans remaining in the draw are Fiona Crawley(North Carolina) and Ayana Akli(Maryland/South Carolina), neither of whom is seeded. If both win Friday, they will play in the semifinals.

It's been a good two weeks for the junior reserved entrants at the M15s in Florida, with Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy reaching the quarterfinals last week in Vero Beach; this week at the M15 in Orange Park, Kennedy and Benjamin Willwerth have advanced to the quarterfinals, and will play Friday for a spot in the semifinals.

Kennedy defeated qualifier Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, while Willwerth earned a 7-5, 7-5 win over Andrew Fenty(Michigan). Kennedy and Willwerth have played twice on the ITF junior circuit, both times in semifinals last year. Kennedy won the J100 match last January 6-3, 6-0; last October at the J300 in Houston, Kennedy earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory. 

No. 2 seed Tyler Zink, who defeated wild card Hance 6-3, 6-2, will play No. 8 seed Will Grant; No. 4 seed Cannon Kingsley(Oho State) will face Tomas Luis(Belmont) of Portugal, with Kingsley beating Victor Lilov 6-0, 6-2 and Luis defeating 17-year-old Noah Johnston 6-4, 6-2.  No. 6 seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) is the sixth American in the quarterfinals; he will play unseeded Bautista Vilicich(Mississippi State, Texas-Arlington), who beat No. 3 seed Alvin Tudorica(USF) 6-1, 6-2.