College Tennis

American @MackieMackster McDonald to Face “Rusty” @Andy_Murray Tonight @CitiOpen; Interview

Posted by Admin on July 30, 2018

Posted in: ATP, Citi Open, College Tennis, Washington. Tagged: 2018 Citi Open, Andy Murray, ATP 500, mackenzie mcdonald, UCLA, us open, washington. Leave a comment

American @MackieMackster McDonald to Face “Rusty” @Andy_Murray Tonight @CitiOpen; Interview
Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic

Mackenzie McDonald is loving the hard courts summer. And he had some confidence headed into tonight’s showdown with two-time grand slam champion Andy Murray when we spoke with him on Sunday afternoon at the Citi Open in Washington.

“I love that (hard court season) is in the states so we get a good crowd cheering on all the Americans,” he said. “I definitely grew up on hard courts and I love hardcourts and I think it suits my game. It’s definitely a good time to be in the States during the Summer.”

mcdonald ucla

As far as battling Murray in his next match, McDonald said, “He’s obviously a great player, has had a great career so far. He’s a grand slam champion so it’s gonna be pretty cool sharing the court with him.”

McDonald seems to like his chances against Murray. “He’s a little rusty. I think there are definitely some positives for me going into the match. I think I’m playing really good tennis so it should be a good match.”

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Tough Day for Local Players at Citi Open Qualifying; Saturday’s Results, Sunday’s OOP
Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic

The Washington weather was out of character for opening day at Citi Open this morning. Not too hot nor too muggy. The mercury rarely fails to top 90 degrees at a day session at Rock Creek Park. We weren’t complaining about the weather today, so we found something else to gripe about—the local talent getting sent home on Day One.

Ysaline Bonaventure, Citi Open (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

Sophie Chang, Citi Open (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

Baltimore’s Sophie Chang had problems with her serve and handed a win to top qualifying seed Ysaline Bonaventure on Court 2. With 15 double faults, Chang still kept the match amazingly close, losing to Bonaventure, 6-4, 7-5. Some of her first serves were way off, going all the way to the baseline. Chang’s serve deserted her today despite the total crowd support of 50-75 fans at the match. Tomorrow, Bonaventure faces Allie Kiick for a spot in the main draw.

Fairfax, Virginia’s Natasha Subhash, introduced in a great piece in City Paper, failed to live up to all the hype today. I’m certain she has better days ahead after she got served a bagel and a breadstick by Mayo Hibi in sixty minutes. I was surprised the match lasted that long. Tomorrow, Hibi squares off against Sofya Zhuk.

Lagardere’s new sign, 18-year old Danny Thomas, got a tough draw with Donald Young in qualifying but still looked good, taking the second set from the 29-year-old veteran before falling in three sets. Young will try to enter the main draw tomorrow with a win over Jason Jung.

Richmond’s Hunter Koontz is a former Virginia Tech athlete and current tennis pro at a country club. Today was no country club for him as he was ousted by the grizzly 32-year-old Frenchman Vincent Millot, who I last saw play when he qualified for last year’s U.S. Open. Koontz managed to take the second set and had major crowd support. Millot has a tough order tomorrow, facing Christopher Eubanks, who looked stellar on Saturday.

Former UVA star Thai-Son Kwiatkowski was the only winner with local connections today, and he persevered in three sets against Ilya Marchenko. Kwiatkowski draws Antoine Escoffier on Sunday.

I’d call Louisa Chirico almost local, and she looked so dazzling against Lauren Davis today in a straight sets win, I’d give her an honorary membership to the DMV region. For all the time Davis spent with Serena Williams, I thought she must have taught her how to play possum with an opponent. After giving up the first set 6-1 to Chirico, the Ohio native fought back and was up a break in the second set. Then the nerves turned on Davis after she was broken back and she and never got over it. She smashed her racquet with a lot of power, so it looks like Williams taught her something after all.

It’s a tiny qualifying field, made even stranger for the men by serving up four byes. That means tomorrow, Alex Bolt, Jason Jung, Jason Kubler and Ramkumar Ramanthan can qualify with a single Sunday win.

RESULTS – JULY 28, 2018

Mens
Qualifying Singles – First Round
Qualifying – [5] C. Eubanks (USA) d [WC] R. Shane (USA) 63 62
Qualifying – A. Escoffier (FRA) d [6] F. Peliwo (CAN) 75 63
Qualifying – [7] M. Krueger (USA) d [WC] A. Fenty (USA) 76(4) 61
Qualifying – [8] D. Young (USA) d [WC] D. Thomas (USA) 76(2) 46 62
Qualifying – J. Hiltzik (USA) d [9] S. Kozlov (USA) 63 63
Qualifying – [10] Y. Watanuki (JPN) d [Alt] P. Kypson (USA) 75 63
Qualifying – [11] V. Millot (FRA) d [WC] H. Koontz (USA) 62 67(6) 62
Qualifying – T. Kwiatkowski (USA) d [12] [PR] I. Marchenko (UKR) 76(6) 06 75

Mens
Qualifying Doubles – First Round
Qualifying – [2] I. Ivashka (BLR) / D. Medvedev (RUS) d [WC] J. Chrysostom (USA) / T. Stinchcomb (USA) 63 63

Women’s
Qualifying Singles – First Round
Qualifying – [1] Y. Bonaventure (BEL) d S. Chang (USA) 64 75
Qualifying – [2] A. Kalinina (UKR) d S. Karatantcheva (BUL) 64 61
Qualifying – [3] S. Zhuk (RUS) d D. Khazaniuk (ISR) 64 63
Qualifying – [4] H. Dart (GBR) d S. Aoyama (JPN) 61 60
Qualifying – [Alt] A. Guarachi (CHI) d [5] F. di Lorenzo (USA) 26 75 75
Qualifying – [6] M. Hibi (JPN) d [WC] N. Subhash (USA) 60 61
Qualifying – [7] A. Kiick (USA) d N. Kukharchuk (RUS) 62 60
Qualifying – L. Chirico (USA) d [8] L. Davis (USA) 61 76(2)

ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2018
STADIUM start 10:00 am
ATP – Qualifying – [4] A. Bolt (AUS) vs J. Hiltzik (USA)
ATP – Qualifying – [3] J. Jung (TPE) vs [8] D. Young (USA)
WTA – Qualifying – [2] A. Kalinina (UKR) vs L. Chirico (USA)
WTA – Qualifying – [4] H. Dart (GBR) vs [Alt] A. Guarachi (CHI)

JOHN A HARRIS GRANDSTAND start 10:00 am
ATP – Qualifying – [2] R. Ramanathan (IND) vs [7] M. Krueger (USA)
ATP – Qualifying – [5] C. Eubanks (USA) vs [11] V. Millot (FRA)
WTA – Qualifying – [3] S. Zhuk (RUS) vs [6] M. Hibi (JPN)
WTA – Qualifying – [1] Y. Bonaventure (BEL) vs [7] A. Kiick (USA)

GRANDSTAND 2 start 10:00 am
ATP – Qualifying – [1] J. Kubler (AUS) vs [10] Y. Watanuki (JPN)
ATP – Qualifying – A. Escoffier (FRA) vs T. Kwiatkowski (USA)
ATP – Qualifying – [1] D. Sharan (IND) / A. Sitak (NZL) vs [2] I. Ivashka (BLR) / D. Medvedev (RUS)

West Coast Tennis Tour Debuts This Summer With 13 Tournament Dates

Former USC Assistant Women’s Coach West Nott And Coaches Taking ‘Road Trip Of a Lifetime’

West Nott with former USC Trojan Kaitlyn Christian

Former USC women’s assistant coach West Nott is rolling out West Coast Tennis Tours this summer for high performance juniors and college players looking to take their game to the next level.

Nott and his coaches will host the West Coast Tennis Tour this summer and will travel to 13 open prize money tournaments from May 15 to Aug. 12. The tour will begin in San Diego and make stops in places like Santa Cruz, Calif., Salem, Ore., and in Seattle for one of the oldest tournaments in the country, the Washington State Open which has been played every year for 128 years.

“We want to get young players to compete more,” said Nott, who severed as the Trojans’ women’s assistant coach for 10 seasons. “The tour is geared toward high school and college players who are seeking more pressure-filled match play. All levels are welcome. This is one giant road trip and we are connecting all the dots A to Z for a memorable life experience and seeing sights along the way.”

West Coast Tennis Tour

The tour is something Nott experienced himself last summer as a player. Now he wants to share what he learned and saw to others. He added that all results from the tournaments will go toward a player’s Universal Tennis Rating.

“It was a road trip of a lifetime,” said Nott, who grew up in Midland, Mich., and played his college tennis at Georgia Tech.

“This is for college players who are looking to makes some leaps in the lineup,” he said. “We will learn life lessons while competing. There’s more to tennis than just hitting cross courts.”

Nott’s coaching staff includes some of his former players who made the NCAA Final Four twice, won four Pac-12 championships and reached an NCAA national No. 1 team ranking in 2015.

A second project Nott is working on is College Tennis Tours where he will be hosting a trip to the NCAA Team Men’s and Women’s Championships May 17-22 at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, N.C. Nott said more information on the tours will be released shortly, but the trip provides the “ultimate college viewing experience for all junior players aged 13-18,” he said.

Tennis instructions and seminars will take place during the trip, as well as catching all the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four matches and NCAA Team Championships in men’s and women’s tennis. For more information, check out: info@collegetennistours.com.

“The whole idea behind these business projects is to get young players fired up about college tennis and competing,” Nott said.

For more information on West Coast Tennis Tour, go to: http://www.westcoasttennistour.com or call Nott at 858.322.3171 or email him: info@westcoasttennistour.com.

—S. Pratt

Newport Problems: Can't get off court because there's players surrounding you

From College Tennis to the Tennis Hall of Fame: Millennials are so Impatient

Tennis Hall of Fame Hosts ITA Collegiate Team Event on the Grass in Newport

The Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invitational will draw four men’s teams and four women’s teams for a first of its kind tournament, which is free and open to the public.

NEWPORT, R.I., September 13, 2016 – In a first of its kind event, the International Tennis Hall of Fame has partnered with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) to host a three-day grass court tournament that will draw eight NCAA Division 1 tennis teams to compete on the grass courts of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island this weekend. The Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invitational will be held September 16 – 18. The tournament will be free of charge and open to the public, providing a great opportunity for fans to see high-caliber competitive tennis. The tournament will be streamed live on FloTennis – the inaugural broadcast of the ITA’s new partnership with FloSports.

“This is an exciting new event to add to the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s calendar. The objectives of this tournament are multi-faceted. Every day at the Hall of Fame, we strive to inspire the next generation of great tennis champions and very likely, some of them are playing collegiate tennis at this moment. We are delighted to welcome some of the top collegiate players to the Hall of Fame, where they will be immersed in our sport’s rich history and hopefully inspired by the Hall of Famers who are honored here,” said International Tennis Hall of Fame CEO Todd Martin.

He continued, “Additionally, the Hall of Fame is a place where our sport is celebrated every day. Collegiate tennis is an integral part of our sport in so many ways and it is also really exciting to watch. These players are competitive and incredibly talented. They are committed to the sport and to pursuing a higher education. It will be a great event for families with aspiring young players to attend as well as for general tennis fans who are interested in watching some top-notch competitive tennis. For any tennis fans who have been meaning to plan a visit to the museum at the International Tennis Hall of Fame – this would be a great weekend to do it.”

Matches will be played on the historic Bill Talbert Stadium Court and on the additional grass courts at the Hall of Fame, all of which have hosted many of the sport’s greatest tennis legends over the years.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for ITA college athletes to compete in a venue that is really special to tennis worldwide, and to learn more about our sport. We are very pleased to be collaborating with the Hall of Fame to make this unique opportunity available to the student-athletes and look forward to growing this partnership in the future,” said Tim Russell, CEO of the ITA.

Eight teams (4 women’s and 4 men’s) will compete in a flighted singles and doubles round robin format, playing for individual ITA Ranking Points. Following is a list of participating teams, listed with their national ITA ranking, based on the standings at the end of the 2015-2016 seasons.

Men’s Teams:

University of Virginia, No. 1

Texas Christian University, No. 3

University of Michigan, No. 25

Princeton, No. 52

Women’s Teams:

University of California, No. 2

Oklahoma State, No. 8

Georgia Tech, No. 16

Harvard University, No. 55

The Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invitational will be held September 16 – 18 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. The event is free of charge and open to the public, providing a great opportunity for fans to see high-caliber competitive tennis. During the event days, admission to the museum at the International Tennis Hall of Fame will be reduced to $8 from the standard $15, making it a great time for tennis fans to visit. Admission to the museum for kids ages 16 & under is always free.

–A. McLaughlin, Hall of Fame

College Tennis Review: Is your Team Speeding Forward or Off the Rails?

Posted by Admin on April 7, 2016

Posted in: College Tennis, Jeff McMillan. Tagged: 2016, Alabama, Analysis, arizona, Baylor, college tennis, Drake, Duke, georgia, Harvard, Iowa, Loyola Marymount, NCAA, Nebraska, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, San Diego State, SMU, Southern Cal, stanford, TCU, Tennessee, USF, Utah State, UTSA, Wake Forest, washington. Leave a comment

College Tennis Review: Is Your Time Speeding Forward or Off the Rails?
Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

April is crunch time in college tennis and this season has been a wild one thus far which will undoubtedly set up for a wild finish to the regular season. Here is my look at how certain teams are doing heading down the final tracks of the season.

(the real fun gets started in the off the rails segment at the end.)

Speeding Forward

These teams that are hitting their stride just at the right time and show no signs of slowing.

Wake Forest: The Deacs are on an absolute tear right now and are looking ominous to any team in the country. Even before the massive win in Chapel Hill they were looking great by plowing through several ranked teams. Sunday’s win in Chapel Hill was a culmination of great fight and showed exactly what Wake Forest is capable of moving forward. A huge matchup with Virginia looms.

Georgia: For the early half of the season UGA was not looking all that imposing, certainly not compared to their lofty standards. Ranked as low as 19, the Dawgs were starting to become somewhat overlooked nationally. All that has changed in a hurry in the last few weeks. Georgia revved up their speed on the tracks with a huge home win over Ohio State on March 20^th and have turned the speed to maximum following the dominating performance in College Station this past Friday. Many people expected A&M to win that match and believed that if Georgia was to win it would be in the fashion of sneaking out a 4-3 thriller. Instead the Bulldogs punched the Aggies in the mouth and stole a 4-1 win. They are now 8-0 in the SEC and it looks like once again the SEC title will be heading to Athens.

SMU: Even before the last couple of week this was already a great season for the Mustangs of SMU. Then they decided to turn things up yet another notch by knocking off top 10 Oklahoma State and conference rival USF within the span of little over a week. Now the talk has shifted from will the Mustangs make the NCAA tournament to can they actually host a regional? Regardless of if they host one or not, nobody will want to see the red hot Ponies as their opponent as the season comes to a head.

TCU: This is a team that has not lost since February and one that has not lost at all this year on an open air court. They have not been without their tests but it seems like it’s becoming a college tennis regularity to see a TCU twitter video of Head Coach Roditi celebrating a big win as the Frogs yet again get the victory. The most recent example of this was their heart stopping victory over Texas A&M in front of a hostile crowd. TCU was definitely considered to be a title contender before the year began and they have not shown any signs of disappointing that expectation.

Southern Cal: The whispers of a USC down year had turned to full volume statements following the stunning loss to Washington. But in college tennis things can change in one weekend. The past weekend the Trojans dominated their NorCal conference rivals to make a huge statement. In both matches, the Trojans dropped the doubles point to Cal and Stanford respectively and in both they stormed back in singles to end up with convincing wins. It goes without saying that no matter what the season is, nobody should ever look past the USC Trojans in May.

Northwestern: The Wildcats have been a pleasant surprise this year. People expected them to have a good team but I don’t think anyone anticipated them being this good. The guys from Evanston have only 2 losses on their resume (one of which has since been avenged) thus far and have shown no signs of slowing down. They look set to host a regional as they continue to impress week after week.

Gaining Traction

These teams might are starting to find the track just at the right time

Duke: This extremely young team has had a pretty disappointing year for Duke standards. The Blue Devils fell out of the rankings for a couple weeks in March and the season looked to be shot. But thanks to a good win over NC State on Friday, suddenly things are starting to look up for the Blue Devils. Even more encouraging than the win over NC State was the fight they gave Virginia in match largely expected to be a rout. If they can bring that level of play for the ACC tournament then they can be surprisingly dangerous. (I say ACC tournament because the rest of their regular season schedule is unfortunate with very tough matches vs Wake and UNC and a match vs Clemson which will give them no benefit to winning)

Washington: The NCAA tournament drought for the Huskies looks to be coming to an end this year. The team has shown a lot in recent weeks with solid wins, punctuated with the cornerstone win over Southern Cal. Some tough Pac 12 matches remain vs Stanford, Cal and Oregon but the Huskies look to be playing their best tennis at the right time.

Nebraska: The Cornhusker improvement has not necessarily been shown in wins so far but in how they have played in recent matches. They are starting to really compete vs every team in the Big 10. Only a matter of time before they pull off the desired upset win.

Alabama: Things did not look great for Alabama early in the year and it took a while for things to turn around but now the Crimson Tide look to be finding their game. They are in battles with every SEC team now and most recently pulled out an important win at Ole Miss. They have played themselves into a good position to make the NCAA tournament.

Loyola Marymount: The Lions have been one of the best unranked teams for the past couple of seasons, being right there and threatening ranked teams, so close to the top 75 promised land. Finally they have gotten there this year and are looking like a legitimate contender in the West Coast Conference thanks to 3 consecutive wins over ranked teams.

Utah State: Utah State has quietly built a very solid program out in Logan, one that been a consistent force in the Mountain West. The Aggies have been playing good tennis in recent weeks. They look to be emerging as the favorite to win the Mountain West which is the most evenly matched conference top to bottom in the country.

Losing Steam

These teams are started to slow down when it matters most

Oklahoma State: Not that long ago Oklahoma State was looking very dangerous and like a national title contender. Now they are looking very vulnerable to an early NCAA tournament upset. The Cowboys were badly hurt when their solid #2 player Temur Ismailov pulled a KU Singh (apologies to UGA fans) and abandoned the team midstream to go play in the pros. Suddenly the Pokes lineup is looking mighty thin and just at the wrong time as they are about to start the brutal Big 12 conference schedule.

Stanford: Just how many chances does this team need before people give up on them as a serious contender? All year people parrot how talented Stanford is and how they are going to start gelling at any moment now. I was one of these, I thought this year’s Stanford’s team was finally a legitimate one. But what do they do when they are presented with opportunity? Get blown away in singles by the LA Pac 12 power firm. They do not have a single signature win this year and are running out of opportunities once again.

USF: Similar to Oklahoma State, the Bulls were looking great in the early parts of the year but have since fallen off the pace. And it’s now looking possible that they are the 4^th best team in the AAC (behind Tulane, Tulsa and SMU). The loss to SMU on Saturday was a real eye opener to just how much this team is starting to skid on the tracks. They do not have a real solid option in the lower parts of the lineup and Roberto Cid is having to do too much on his own at the moment.

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish are 2-6 in their last 8 ACC games and things are not looking good for their hopes of an NCAA tournament berth. Missing the NCAA tournament would be a pretty big disappointment for this veteran heavy team and it will be very hard for them to do so now.

Harvard: A heartbreaking loss for Harvard on Sunday vs Columbia was the cap on what has been a disappointing few weeks for the Crimson. They have lost to a number of teams that are considered to be around their level. They are just losing too many 50/50 matches. They need to find a way to get the killer instinct back.

Drake: After a hot middle part of the year, Drake has hit rough sledding recently. They would not be under the skidding category if it was not for the horrendous loss to William & Mary that they suffered in their most recent match. This match alone is the one that is putting Drake’s tournament chances in jeopardy (still a high chance to win their almost nonexistent conference though).

Off The Rails

These teams have lost the map, way off the tracks and have no way back on

Tennessee: Hey what are the Vols doing on this list?? They are on a 5 match tear! Well as impressive as it is to beat Murray State 4 times in a row when they do not field a full lineup in any of the matches, unfortunately the Vols still end up way off the rails. 0-8 in the SEC and not close to sniffing the top 75. The days of JP Smith, Rhyne Williams and Tennys Sandgren seem like eons ago now. Even the days of Reese and Libietis seem like fairytales now. One thing Tennessee can feel good about is that some teams still consider beating them warrants an excuse to have a mosh pit locker room celebration (see the South Carolina Gamecocks). Any more seasons like this though and teams will treat wins over Tennessee how they treat wins over Boston College. Oh wait some teams consider that win to be cause for rapturous celebration as well (see Clemson Tigers).

Iowa: At one point things were actually looking good for Iowa. They were in the top 35 in the rankings and it looked like they were going to have a rare good season for Iowa tennis. But then Big 10 play started. Well actually two of their worst losses came to non Big 10 teams (Lamar and Cal Poly got em). And they are no longer being competitive, many of the recent losses being routs. Good news for Iowa fans? They can still enjoy watching a 125 pound guy roll around with another 125 pound guy for a chance at an NCAA individual title on youtube replay (spoiler alert… The Hawkeye loses)

Arizona: This selection could be very controversial because it’s debatable whether the Arizona train was ever on the rails in the first place. Naoki Takeda does his best to try and drive the team forward but he alone can’t save a program that seems content to be completely irrelevant (several years now that Arizona has been a non-factor). I’m not sure you’ll believe me… but there’s a legend out there that Arizona once beat UCLA in tennis. In 2010 according to legend. Can’t possibly be true. Let’s stick to the true stories of how the Wildcats took down mighty UC Riverside.

San Diego State: San Diego is a very beautiful city. However it is probably a little less beautiful when you are stuck playing 2^nd fiddle to a cross-town school that is 1/6^th your enrollment size. This was actually supposed to be a good season for SDSU (the heart-eaters, not the fluffy tails from South Dakota) but they have never got on track all season. While they are supposed to be challenging San Diego they are falling behind even teams like UCSB and Santa Clara. Now they have played a tough schedule and the Mountain West is so evenly matched that anything is possible still for the Aztecs.

Baylor: It was always going to be crushing news for Baylor that the Baylor tennis training camps in Budapest and Dortmund would taking a year off this year but even still Baylor was expected to be a good team once again. Compared to the rest of the teams in this section, they are very good but for Baylor standards it is not good. Missing the NCAA tournament is a real possibility as the remaining parts of their schedule are brutal and they just failed to cash in on their best chance for a big win (at home vs Texas Tech. This is about as off the rails as Baylor tennis ever gets.

UTSA: I understand the concept of a down season after you lose several of your top players but how does a team go from a breakout year in 2015 to a 2-17 year in 2016? 2-17. (The Roadrunners actually have 3 wins but they never entered in the win over UIW on ITA so we can’t quite count that one can we?) When you fall behind Texas Rio Grand Valley in tennis after losing to them, a university that has existed for less than a year, you know things are bad. This tennis team does not do a very good job of distracting UTSA fans (they exist? Well I lived in San Antonio for 2 years and I met about 8 in a city of 1.3 million in that time so yes they exist) from their 3-9 football or their 5-27 men’s basketball team.

Tennis Atlantic’s 2016 @ITA College Tennis Conference Power Rankings

Posted by Admin on February 26, 2016

Posted in: College Tennis, ITA, Jeff McMillan, NCAA. Tagged: ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big West, college tennis, Conference, Conference USA, ITA, Ivy League, mens, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Pac 12, Power Rankings, SEC, Sun Belt, West Coast. Leave a comment

Tennis Atlantic’s 2016 @ITA College Tennis Conference Power Rankings
Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

tennis power rankings

With the first ITA computer rankings of the year being released this week, I figured it was time to break out my own Conference Power Formula Rankings again. It is the same as last year except for a slight adjustment that punishes conferences less for having unranked teams. The rankings of every team are taken to determine how many points they add to the conference’s overall total which is then divided by the number of teams in each conference. The lower the score the better.

The point totals look like this:

#1: -25

#2: -21

#3: -18

#4: -15

#5: -12

#6: -10

#7: -8

#8: -6

#9: -4

#10: -2

#11: 0

#12: 2

#13: 4

#14: 6

#15: 8

#16: 10

17-75 same as ranking

Unranked team: 85

So as you can see. The point totals reward top 10 teams with negative numbers and reward top 16 teams. Below the top 16, the numbers are self-explanatory. Without further ado, here are the conference rankings based on overall strength.

Big 12

6 Texas Tech, 8 TCU, 9 Oklahoma State, 10 Oklahoma, 26 Texas, 34 Baylor

Score: 6.33

Once again this formula puts the Big 12 firmly at the top thanks to having no teams ranked lower than 34. No weak links at all in Big 12

Pac 12

4 UCLA, 12 Cal, 13 USC, 20 Oregon, 29 Stanford, 31 Washington, 53 Utah, Arizona

Score: 26.13

Pac 12 comes in 2^nd thanks to teams like Oregon and Washington jumping up the rankings. Having only 1 unranked team helps the Pac 12 as well, as does having 3 top 16 teams.

sec uga

SEC

7 Texas A&M, 16 Georgia, 18 Kentucky, 19 Ole Miss, 37 LSU, 41 Florida, 42 Mississippi State, 45 Vanderbilt, 48 Auburn, 51 Arkansas, 56 Tennessee, 61 South Carolina, Alabama

Score: 38.84

The SEC is helped by having only 1 unranked team out of 13. The gap from 19 to 37 prevents them a bit from moving up any further.

Big Ten

3 Ohio State, 11 Illinois, 15 Northwestern, 21 Penn State, 28 Michigan, 36 Wisconsin, 39 Purdue, 43 Iowa, 64 Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska

Score: 41.33

Having 3 unranked teams hurts the Big Ten, however having 8 teams within the top 43 is a boost.

ACC Men's Tennis

ACC

1 North Carolina, 2 Virginia, 5 Wake Forest, 25 NC State, 35 Florida State, 46 Virginia Tech, 47 Notre Dame, 54 Duke, 57 Georgia Tech, Miami, Clemson, Boston College, Louisville

Score: 42

This is the most interesting score to see. The ACC has 3 top 5 teams and yet still finishes last among the power 5 conferences. This is due to the gap from 5 to NC State at 25 and also only having 5 teams within the top 45. 5 unranked teams does not help either.

Non power 5 conferences with more than 2 ranked teams

American

14 USF, 17 Memphis, 22 Tulsa, 33 Tulane, 60 SMU, 4 unranked teams

Score: 53.11

Strong score for the American. If not for the few schools who do not even give tennis scholarships in the league (UCONN) the American would threaten to overtake a power 5 league.

Ivy League

23 Columbia, 32 Harvard, 38 Dartmouth, 52 Princeton, 59 Penn, 68 Cornell, Brown, Yale

Score: 55.25

Good score for the Ivy League puts them solidly in 7^th. Not having a team in the top 16 hurts their chances of moving up.

Big West

27 UC Santa Barbara, 49 UC Davis, 62 UC Irvine, 3 unranked

Score: 65.5

8^th is about the best the Big West can hope for. Pretty good league this year indeed.

Conference USA

30 Rice, 50 MTSU, 55 Old Dominion, 5 unranked

Score: 70

5 unranked teams hurts the CUSA, but overall still a pretty competitive league this year.

West Coast

24 San Diego, 58 BYU, 70 Pacific, 72 Santa Clara, 72 Portland, 5 unranked

Score: 72.1

Having 5 ranked teams is phenomenal for the Big West and it gives good unranked teams like Loyola Marymount the chance to get ranked wins as the season progresses.

Conferences with only 1 or 2 ranked teams

Missouri Valley

44 Drake, 71 Wichita State, 5 unranked

Score: 77.14

12. Summit League

40 Denver, 5 unranked

Score: 77.5

13. Mountain West

65 San Diego State, 67 Boise State, 6 unranked

Score: 80.25

Sun Belt

63 Georgia State, 75 South Alabama, 5 unranked

Score: 80.29

Southland

66 Abilene Christian, 5 unranked

Score 81.83

MAC

69 Western Michigan, 5 unranked

Score: 82.33

Atlantic Sun

75 North Florida, 6 unranked

Score: 83.57

Conferences with no ranked teams and therefore the score of 85:

Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Sky, Big South, Colonial, Horizon, MAAC, MEAC, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, SWAC, Patriot, WAC

College Tennis: Early Season Preview and Results

Posted by Admin on January 26, 2016

Posted in: College Tennis, Jeff McMillan, NCAA. Tagged: Arkansas, Baylor, Buffalo, BYU, Clemson, college tennis, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, NCAA, Oregon, resno State, San Diego, South Carolina, Tulane, UC-Santa Barbara, UL-Lafayette, UTSA. Leave a comment

College Tennis: Early Season Preview and Results
Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

NCAA_Tennis_Logo

College tennis season is officially back in full swing! We had some great dual matches over the past weekend in the ITA indoor kickoff regionals in the second full weekend of the season. It is, of course, exceptionally early to be judging teams and players. However, based on early results there are a few teams that are obviously much better and much worse than a season ago.

I will explore which teams look to be the most improved from last year and also explore which teams appear to have taken significant steps back.

upswing

On The Upswing

San Diego

Each and every year the Torreros put out a strong team, making them one of the top “mid-major” programs in the entire country. This 2016 team appears to be their strongest team yet. Sporting three top 100 ranked ITA players and a top 10 ranked doubles team, San Diego went into snowy Durham (something Cal was unable to do as they had to cancel their trip to Durham) and came out as the winners of the regional. The veteran Torreros used their experience and poise to knock off the Duke Blue Devils on their home court which is no easy feat no matter how young Duke is this year. Senior #35 Uros Petronijevic led the way with a huge 6-4 7-5 win over #12 Nicolas Alvarez at the #1 position. That win in addition to the doubles point set the tone for the match and allowed Filip Vitek and Joshua Page to seal the victory.

Perhaps even more impressive than the win over a non-vintage Duke team was the 4-0 domination of Vanderbilt in the 1st round of the regional. Never letting the Commodores have a sniff at the win.

San Diego will now go on to Charlottesville to compete against the best teams in the country. Their performance there will go a long way to show just how good this team can be. This is THE year for San Diego. The Senior leadership of Uros Petronijevic, Jordan Angus and Romain Kalaydjian plus Junior Filip Vittek create the strong base for the team. These guys have all been together for a few years now and know what it takes to get over the hump and are ready to do so. UMBC transfer Jaan Kononov, who has experience playing #1 at the D1 level adds another layer of depth and dimension to the team as well.

The key for San Diego this year will be whether they can finish the year in the top 16 or not. It is vital that they do so they can host their own regional for once and not rely on the NCAA tournament committee to once again ship them to USC or UCLA and once again be a victim of location. This win over Duke and Vandy shows just what this team can do if they are removed from the confines of LA where they are again and again subject to being sent. Top 16 is absolutely vital. I think they can do it. The Torreros are a top 10 sleeper this year.

Kentucky

Last year Kentucky had a historically bad season. They finished the year outside the top 75 and fell way down in the pecking order of the SEC. It was a hard year for a program that had been used to success and was pushing nationally elite in the days of Eric Quigley. But it seems that the hard times were short lived for the Wildcats. Early into the year it is evident already that this UK team is far more talented and better than the team from a season ago. This team is stronger at the top with a blossoming player in William Bushamuka who will shoot up the rankings more and more as the season goes on. Freshman Ryotaro Matsamura is a massive influx of talent at #2 for this team. He will combine with Bushamuka for a good one-two punch this year. The improvement was immediately apparent last weekend as they went to Duke and shocked the Blue Devils. That is exactly the type of win that the UK team of a year ago was not capable of. They followed that win up with a nice win over an improved Michigan team this past weekend. In both matches Kentucky dominated the top 3 positions with Bushamuka and Matsamura rolling joined with Nils Ellefsen at #3.

The Wildcats do show signs of weakness at the bottom 3 positions however, as they struggled to get wins at 4-6 vs both Duke and Michigan. But the strength of the top 3 could be enough to offset that weakness. Plus if and when Beck Pennington returns to the lineup the Wildcats should turn that strong top 3 into a strong top 4.

Even with the lack of depth this team is certainly lightyears better than the 2015 edition of the Kentucky Wildcats and will make a push for the tournament. The SEC is a big jumble in the middle and I could see the Wildcats pulling some upsets and eventually becoming the breakthrough team of 2016 in that league.

Tulane

Tulane probably does not want to hear this after a gut-wrenching loss to Southern Cal in LA this past weekend but the Green Wave have one hell of a team this year and will be vying for a top 30 or even 25 spot this season. Not just any team can go into the City of Angels and take the mighty Trojans all the way to the wire. They were in the winning position for what would have been a massive upset and program changing win. The only negative you can take away from that effort in LA is that Tulane will now certainly not sneak up on anyone this year. Everyone in the college tennis world took notice of them after this weekend if they were not already aware of the team they have. Because this team is legit all across the board.

The current #1 ranked ITA player Dominik Koepfer spearheads the Green Wave’s ascension. He is backed by a nice mix of talented players including #63 Constantin Schmitz, #111 Sebastian Rey and the Van Cott twins.

Tulane made a move last year and was a much improved team from the 2014 team. They ended up being one of the last teams left out of the NCAA tournament, something that has undoubtedly made this year’s version even hungrier. They have all of their team back this year and they are a year stronger, more experienced and hungrier than ever to achieve more and I believe they will do just that and are my pick to win the American Athletic Conference this year.

Oregon

It could be a dangerous proposition to put too much stock in a near win vs a team that is clearly down from a year ago but that is exactly what I am going to with the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks took Baylor to the absolute limit in Waco before ultimately falling in a 3^rd set tiebreaker (a buster). Waco is one of those college tennis shrines where it is impressive to have a good performance there no matter how good the Baylor team is.

Last year, Oregon disappointingly missed out on the NCAA tournament and took somewhat of a step back from what was expected. However, the 2016 team looks better and back on track. Before falling in heartbreaking fashion to the Bears on Sunday, Oregon dismissed a pretty good Old Dominion team 4-1 and before that, beat a solid UC Santa Barbara team in routine 7-0 fashion. The Oregon of a year ago would have not beat those teams so soundly but they would have been in a battle. The ability to put away dangerous mid-majors like UCSB and Old Dominion shows that this team has its head in the right place. And the fact that they came to battle with Baylor also shows an improvement in team mentality and belief.

A big reason for this improvement is the addition of super talented Freshman Thomas Laurent of France. He is a big add for Oregon and probably one of the most talented freshmen that the Oregon program has ever taken in. He was the player who suffered the clinching rough loss at #2 to Maxime Tchoutakian which was always going to be a tough spot for a freshman to get a big win on the road like that. The rest of the lineup is well balanced, with no weaknesses and no stand outs. Opposing teams will not know where their points will come from during any given match vs Oregon. Oregon should make the tournament this year and could push the Cali Quad in matches in the Pac 12.

On The Upswing honorable mentions: Arkansas, UC-Santa Barbara, Fresno State, BYU, Buffalo

Sliding Downward

downswing

Texas

Tough times were predictable following the departure of the talent laden senior class of 2015. Hess-Olesen, Glasspool and Berkowicz were the backbone and the limbs of Texas tennis the past couple of seasons and to suddenly be deprived of them was always going to be a big blow.

With that being said, the reloading process does not appear to be off to a very good start. Liam Caruana was supposed to be a stud #1 and a big get for the Longhorns, but instead he is playing in the Australian Open Juniors event and has decided against going to Austin for college tennis. A brief glimpse at this Longhorn lineup and it is evident that this team is nowhere close to the top 10 level Texas had become accustomed to the past two seasons. The results have backed that up thus far. A bad loss to a decent but not great Washington team and a lopsided loss to Florida did nothing to show that Texas will be better than the lineup indicates. They did gain a little bit of momentum with a very gutsy comeback effort vs Ole Miss, where they rallied from a set down on four courts and came up just short on one of the four courts. But still that is three losses already into this very young season.

The main problem with this team is at the top. George Goldhoff must take the reins at #1 pretty much by default. He has not been a great player for Texas in his career so far even at the #4 position, you could even say he has been somewhat disappointing and now he must play #1? That is not a recipe for success. Freshman Harrison Scott should be a decent player but he cannot do it all himself. Rodrigo Banzer could help a little bit despite taking one on the chin at #3 vs Ole Miss. John Mee should be a solid bottom of the lineup player in his 2^nd college season but early season results so far indicate he has taken a step back and will not be a big contributor so they must rely on less talented guys to hold down the bottom while struggling at the top.

The Big 12 will be brutal this year as every team aside from Texas looks to be absolutely loaded. Tough year ahead for the Longhorns.

Clemson

One of the teams that looks to be significantly worse this year from a season ago is the Clemson Tigers. Things did not look good ever since the fairly poor fall results in the individual events and the results thus far have not shown any signs of improvement. Two lopsided losses to Dartmouth and Penn State this past weekend showed the lack of talent on the team. There was never a moment in either match where it looked like Clemson had a chance to win. There were not even any what I like to call “create your own victory” scenarios that coaches love to throw out there. And Penn State and Dartmouth are not world beaters. Good teams? Yes. Teams that should be beating you 6-1 if you are an ACC team? No

The real sting in the tail, however, was the loss to Mercer the previous weekend. Mercer is probably not a top 150 caliber team (shown by their awful 6-1 loss to Southern Illinois after beating Clemson).

Now how did Clemson get to this point? Remember this team is only 2 years removed from back-to-back NCAA tournament 2^nd round appearances, being only 1 court away from a Sweet 16 trip each year. The answer is talent. This team has lost a lot of talent recently and has not replaced it. Luke Johnson is a very solid player at the #5 or #4 position but he is having to play #1 now, pretty much by default (much like Goldhoff of Texas as mentioned above). Alexandre Favrot was a bigtime recruit and is supposed to be a great player for Clemson this year. It would probably be best to put him at #1 and see what he can do versus the top talents in the country. The lack of growth from a few of the players at the bottom of the lineup hurts the team as well. Certain players have not shown improvement and therefore they accumulate quite a few losses lower in the lineup. And let’s not forget that Hampton Drake transferred to Duke after having a solid end to 2015 last year.

It’s unlikely that this team will finish the year in the top 75. They will need to have a few upsets in order for that to happen. They will need big contributions from some of the lower lineup guys and hope that Favrot has a breakout year at #1.

Louisville

The Louisville Cardinal are a hard team to figure out, mainly because they lack an identity and their team seems to be a jumble of players who don’t mesh well together. They are clearly not as good as a year ago thanks to the departure of Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, who had one of the best breakout years in the country last year for an individual. So far this year, they have been roughed up by Northwestern, roughed up by Memphis and lost to UC Santa Barbara in a surprise. They showed no lineup consistency in any of those 3 matches. Yes, it is early in the year and they have a very young team, so it is normal to fit and piece things together to see where players fit. But it is a little odd to have players drop in and out of the lineup the way Louisville does (they did this to an extent last year as well).

For instance, Jeffrey Brown and Sean Donohue did not make an appearance in the singles lineup vs UCSB and Brown not vs Memphis either despite player at 2 and 3 vs Northwestern. Also Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff did not play singles in the Cardinals first 2 matches against good competition and then suddenly appears at #3 vs UCSB. This type of lineup inconsistency will certainly keep the opposition guessing but at the cost of destroying team chemistry and individual confidence. This team will need to find some solid answers moving forward but it is looking unlikely with the lack of talent on the roster.

South Carolina

Clemson was not the only team from the Palmetto state that had a rough weekend on the road this past weekend. The Gamecocks equaled their rival’s tough weekend in New Hampshire with a tough weekend of their own in Columbus by falling in consecutive matches to Denver and Wichita State.

On paper, the Gamecocks should really be better this year than they were a year ago. They have an influx of some new talented freshmen and appear to have more depth plus they lost automatic loss machine Andrew Adams to graduation. So what exactly is going on with this team? They have issues at the top, with no dominant #1 type of player. The depth also appears to not be as strong as originally thought.

Gamecock coach Josh Goffi has made it a big point of emphasis in recent years to recruit Americans. This wins him some fans with those who believe college tennis has too many foreigners (I am not one of those people, I like foreigners playing the college game). Goffi gets praised for Americanizing the roster but does not get knocked for the team accumulating losses. You have to wonder if they are just relying too heavily on American freshmen to step in and immediately make a big impact in the college game. It is clear that Yancy Dennis in particular is going to need some time to adapt to the college game before being a big contributor for this team. O’Keefe and Mayronne will have to shoulder a lot of the burden if this team is to be competitive in the SEC this year. Can they do it? It will definitely help if Gabriel Friedrich ever returns from injury. All is not lost for this team (unlike the other 3 on this list), but things will be tough regardless.

Sliding Downward honorable mentions: Duke, Baylor, UTSA, UL-Lafayette

There is still a ton of tennis left to be played. We have only seen 5% of what these teams can do so far. Nothing is guaranteed. Any of these teams written about or listed in the honorable mentions can prove me wrong one way or another. One thing I CAN guarantee though is that this college tennis season will be 100% free from match fixing. And that is definitely not something the ATP can say.

Jeff McMillan (Clemson)

.@ITATennis Tulsa All-American Players To Watch

Posted by Admin on October 2, 2015

Posted in: College Tennis, ITA, Jeff McMillan, NCAA. Tagged: 2015, Arthur Rinderkneck, college, ITA, Jordan Daigle, Michael Redlicki, Mikael Torpegaard, NCAA, tennis, tulsa, Wayne Montgomery. Leave a comment

ITA Tulsa All-American Players To Watch
Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

The most exciting individual college tennis event of the year gets underway Saturday in Tulsa. The ITA All-Americans. This tournament features literally every D1 player that wishes to enter, from main draw to qualies to pre-qualies. The colossal field often yields a ton of interesting results and gives college tennis fans a very early look at what we can expect in the upcoming dual season.

Booby Knight at collegetennistoday has the in-depth breakdown of the tournament format here.

Players to watch in Tulsa

Main Draw selections:

– Wayne Montgomery, Georgia
Montgomery will be one of the favorites to take home the title in Tulsa. The 2nd year Georgia Bulldog has already had a very strong start to the fall individual season by taking home the title in Athens a couple weekends ago in the Southern Intercollegiate Fall Championships. His relentless style of play will wreak havoc on the draw and I expect the South African to be one of the final players standing vying for the early season championship.

– Jordan Daigle, LSU
Last season was a season of breakthrough for Daigle at LSU. The LSU junior began his career at Virginia, but after not receiving much playing time as a Cavalier he opted to return closer to home to play for the LSU Tigers. This turned out to be a very good decision as he was a force at #1 for the Tigers for much of the SEC season. This season Daigle looks to improve even more and to solidify himself as one of the nation’s strong #1 players. Like Montgomery, his fall has started very well as Daigle took home the Cajun Tennis Classic title this past weekend in Lafayette. He will look to continue that momentum and Tulsa. Look for Daigle to cause a few surprises this year at the All-Americans.

– Arthur Rinderkneck, Texas A&M
Entering his 2nd season in college tennis, expectations have now been upped for Rinderkneck. As the season wore on last year, the Frenchman improved more and more until he was in the discussion for national freshman of the year. He had several clutch clinching wins for the Aggies and grew as a player. Tulsa will be his first opportunity to show what he can do in the upcoming season. His always-dangerous lanky ball striking will be a force for any player in the draw to deal with.

– Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
No other current college player can claim they have played on a stage equal to what Torpegaard just played on a couple of weeks ago when the Buckeye sophomore had the opportunity to play Rafa Nadal in a live Davis Cup rubber. He succumbed in straight sets but it was undoubtedly a priceless experience for him (he also played David Ferrer in a dead rubber). Will those matches mean anything for him going forward? He is one of the more talented players in college tennis and with a year of experience under his belt he can make a push for the ITA top 10 this year. Making a deep run in Tulsa would be a phenomenal way to kickoff his 2015-2016 season.

Qualifying Selections:

– Mazen Osama, Alabama
The long awaited debut of Mazen Osama will be in Tulsa at the All-Americans. The Egyptian has had an interesting route to college tennis. Originally slated to be an Ole Miss Rebel, Osama then elected to not play college tennis last year and there was doubt as to whether he would ever make his way to the USA for college tennis play. But he inexplicably landed in Tuscaloosa and will look to improve the Crimson Tide this year. His transition from Egyptian futures to American hard court college tennis will be very interesting to follow.

– Michael Redlicki, Arkansas
The older Redlicki brother is finally back in college tennis after his tumultuous tenure at Duke ended with him being removed from the team followed by a year long hiatus. There were rumors that Redlicki would become a part of the Roddick behemoth in Norman but it was not be. Instead he will look to help the Arkansas Razorbacks get out of the SEC bottom level. He began his career at Arkansas last weekend by winning the Georgia Tech Invitational Draw A title. The lefty was a controversial figure in college tennis at Duke. Will he continue his act at Arkansas or will he cut out the antics and focus solely on tennis?

– Hendrik Jebens, San Diego State
Quietly one of the most dominant #2’s in the nation last year, it appears that Jebens has upped his game for the upcoming season. He is fresh off of a big win over Robert Quiroz in California futures qualifying as well as a win over former Louisville #1 Andrew Carter. The Aztec junior is one of those players who can surprise here in Tulsa. Not someone who gets a ton of recognition but a dangerous improving player nonetheless. Do not be shocked if you see Jebens moving along the draw and by knocking out some of the better-known players.

– Enzo Sommer, Washington
The #4 ranked ITA newcomer will make his first mark in college tennis in Tulsa. The 6’4 Swiss will be a dangerous player to everyone in the draw. As with every highly rated newcomer, how well they transition to college tennis is the key question and the first tournament can shed some light on that question. Washington definitely needs Sommer to be all he is hyped up to be if they are to return to the NCAA tournament this year and again be a contender in the Pac 12.

Pre-qualifying Selections:

-Sebastian Rey, Tulane
The junior from the UK has started off the 15-16 campaign very strongly and will be a player to watch in Tulsa coming out of the pre-qualifying. In last weekend’s Rice Invitational, Rey posted a dominating win over Nick Naumann of Texas and then won the draw by beating higher ranked teammate Constantin Schmitz in the final in a tense 3rd set tiebreak. These results show that Rey can beat highly regarded players and therefore could be someone that makes some noise out of the Pre-Q draw.

– Yannick Zuern, North Florida
Already this fall Zuern boasts wins over Michael Rinaldi of FSU and Harrison Richmond of Virginia. The strong #2 player for UNF should probably be in the qualifying draw and is one of the strongest players in the pre-qualies. Nobody in this section of the tournament will want to see Zuern as their opponent and the junior form Germany should make some noise in Tulsa.

– Harrison Scott, Texas
Perhaps overlooked originally thanks to the strength of Texas’s incoming freshman class, it would now be a mistake for anyone to overlook the freshman from Calgary. Scott is 9-0 already in fall play with impressive wins over Trevor Johnson of TCU and Florian Lakat of Cal (albeit in a non-traditional format). His win streak so far this fall could continue in Tulsa. Sometimes we see these players get on a roll in the fall and rack up the wins. One that comes to mind is AJ Catanzariti of A&M last year who compiled many wins in the fall as a freshman. Scott could very well do the same thing here in Tulsa.

-Jerry Lopez, TCU
Every year in college tennis we see players transfer to a new program and become significantly better in their new location. For whatever reason the new scenery gives them renewed confidence and game clarity. This may be the case this year with Jerry Lopez. A highly regarded player but one who never really got off the ground at Kentucky and never made the impact that the Wildcats had hoped for. TCU is a big time program on the rise and being around excellence and new teammates may turn Lopez into the player he was expected to be this year. We will see starting in Tulsa.

Pre-Tournament Men’s College Tennis Grades: Big 12 and Pac 12

Posted by Admin on April 24, 2015

Posted in: College Tennis, Jeff McMillan, NCAA. Tagged: 2015, Arizona State, Baylor, Big 12, Cal, college, NCAA, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pac 12, Southern Cal, stanford, State, TCU, tennis, texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah, washington. Leave a comment

Pre-Tournament Men’s College Tennis Grades: Big 12 and Pac 12
Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

BIG 12

Oklahoma

Best Win: 4-3 at Baylor – The frenzy that was this titanic match between #1 and #2 ended in favor of the Sooners on enemy turf. In a season full of impressive wins and fending off challengers, this win stands alone as the most impressive of the season for John Roddick’s boys.

Worst Loss: 4-3 loss at Texas Tech- Following the massive win in Waco, the Sooners fell in Lubbock to the upstart Red Raiders who had been playing better and better as the season progressed. This loss was disappointing but overall did not affect the Sooner’s ranking and therefore is not a detrimental loss.

Team MVP: Axel Alvarez – Andrew Harris and Dane Webb also strong contenders for this award, especially considering the clutch nature of Webb all season. But it is hard to argue against undefeated in dual play. Alvarez’s amazing season has anchored the Sooners all spring and he has been the key to their rise to #1.

Grade: A

A great season all around for Oklahoma, with huge wins all over the place. They have defied the doubters time and time again. The true value of their season will be determined in the NCAA tournament. If they can take home the title it will be one of the best seasons of any team in recent memory.

Baylor

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Virginia – The first win over Virginia indoors in Chicago gets the nod as the Bears best win of the season because it set the tone. By beating the prohibitive indoor favorites, the Bears showed that they meant business in 2015 and were one of the teams to be reckoned with nationally

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Oklahoma – The Bears have lost to the Sooners 3 times this year and it is the 3^rd loss that is the worst of the bunch. Yes it was very close but it was the most disheartening because of the raucous crowd and how very nearly Baylor came to winning. This loss could be a confidence bruiser if the Bears are to face Oklahoma again in the Big 12 tournament or the NCAA tournament.

Team MVP: Julian Lenz – Lenz is the #1 ranked individual player in the nation right now and his results back that ranking up. He has been amazing all season. Maxime Tchoutakian’s insertion into the team in January has been critical as well but he does not get this award based on his poor record vs. the elite teams this season.

Grade: A

The season that Baylor was hoping for as they entered 2015. They have exceeded expectations to a degree and been even better than people were expecting thanks to the overall strength of the lineup where no weak spots can be found. Losing 3 times vs. a conference rival is not ideal, however they still have chances to remedy that as postseason begins.

TCU

Best Win: 4-0 vs. Texas A&M – The sheer domination of this win was impressive and gets the nod as the best win for the Horned Frogs in 2015. A 4-0 blanking with the 3 finished singles courts ending in lopsided scores. A&M has since gone on to win the SEC title which makes this dominating win ever more impressive.

Worst Loss: 4-1 vs. UCLA – At the time this loss did not seem to be that bad, but now that the Bruins have shown that they are a shadow at best of previous UCLA teams, this loss stands out as the lone bad blemish on TCU’s resume.

Team MVP: Guillermo Nunez – Going from starting the season at #6 and rising to winning matches vs. highly ranked opponents at #2 is just about the most impressive advancement any player can show in one season. The freshman from Chile lost 1 dual match all season and has been TCU’s rock all year long.

Grade: A+

After a heartbreaking 2014 season where the Horned Frogs found any and every way possible to lose 4-3 matches vs. highly ranked teams, 2015 was cathartic is so many ways. All the talent came together for a special season that will likely not end until deep into NCAA tournament play.

Texas

Best Win: 4-1 vs. Ohio State – A straightforward defense of their home city (even if it is not their true home courts at Caswell) earns the title of best win for the Longhorns. Ohio State never truly threatened in this match, which is what made this win so impressive.

Worst Loss: 4-1 at TCU – This loss was disappointing for the Longhorns because of how one-sided it was. TCU won 3 straight set matches in singles play to get the win. This convincing loss plus two other one-sided losses vs. Baylor and Oklahoma showed that there is a gap between the top 3 of the Big 12 and Texas.

Team MVP: Soren Hess-Olesen – Was the best player in the country for much of the dual season. And while he picked up a couple of losses late in the year, Soren still remained an almost sure point for Texas all year and because of that gave Texas a chance in each match they competed in.

Grade: B-

The regular season started out stronger than it ended. They are still a top 10 team nationally, but the lopsided losses to the 3 teams above them in the Big 12 shows that there is a gap there. It is a bit disappointing for the Horns that TCU has been able to surpass them in one season, especially with it being the senior year for the top 3 of Soren Hess Olesen, Lloyd Glasspool and Adrien Berkowicz.

Texas Tech

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Oklahoma – Without this win the season was very good, but nothing special. But with this win the Red Raiders turned their season into something potentially special. This huge upset over the previously bulletproof Sooners gives Texas Tech a chance to host a regional and make a run in the NCAA tournament.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Clemson – A loss to a team that is just barely hanging on in the top 75 is dragging down Texas Tech like an anchor. Without this loss they would be pretty safely assured of a regional host slot, but with this loss it will be a very close call.

Team MVP: Alex Sendegeya – The freshman has posted pivotal wins in many of Texas Tech’s most critical wins. He (along with Jolan Cailleau) has been a key cog at #3 and bridges the teams strong top 2 with their not quite as strong 5 and 6 position players. His dominant 6-2 6-3 win over Dane Webb over Oklahoma set the tone for the massive upset.

Grade: A

The season has turned into a lot more than what anyone was expecting as March rolled into April. This team appears to be peaking at just the right time, getting all of their hiccups (Clemson, New Mexico) out of the way early and now they can focus on tournament play looking dangerous.

Oklahoma State

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Tulsa – Tulsa is the highest ranked team that Oklahoma State defeated all season and they did so in dramatic 3^rd set breaker fashion courtesy of Arjun Kadhe over Alejandro Espejo. Tulsa would go on to prove that they were a pretty formidable team, so this win stands alone for the Cowboys.

Worst Loss: 4-3 at Notre Dame – Another match that came down to the absolute wire, but this time on the wrong end for Oklahoma State. This was a big chance to get a huge early season win on the road, but the loss was a heartbreaker and ended up being damaging the whole season.

Team MVP: Lucas Gerch – Only lost 1 dual match prior to the start of Big 12 play and had a signature win over Lloyd Glasspool of Texas in the Big 12 opener. His strong play at the #3 and then the #2 position was critical for Oklahoma State staying in the NCAAA tournament range all season.

Grade: B

A decent season for Oklahoma State in 2015 and it was one that mirrored the previous season of 2014 perfectly. Maybe a little bit more improvement was expected from the Cowboys considering the returning players and the renaissance that was the 2014 season. Still, the Cowboys will be in the NCAA tournament again and will have a chance to do more.

PAC 12

Stanford

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Southern Cal – This win was the one announcing Stanford’s ambition to return to the top of the college tennis world. All season there were signs of improvement but this win showed that the improvement was real and that the Cardinal may be headed back to the elite soon.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Cal – All momentum gained from the USC win was lost after losing this match at home on senior day vs. rival Cal. The win over USC should have propelled Stanford to a new level, one above the level of Cal but instead they allowed their bay area rivals to drag them back down again.

Team MVP: Tom Fawcett – Playing all season at #1, the freshman was a stalwart for the Cardinals, immune to some of the ups and downs that the other Stanford players faced throughout the year.

Grade: B

By traditional Stanford standards this season was another poor one but based on very recent seasons 2015 was a year of growth and a positive one overall. A lack of ambition in scheduling prevented Stanford from climbing higher in the rankings. The team is talented and we will see how well they can do in the NCAA tournament coming up and if they can pull anymore big upsets.

Southern Cal

Best Win: 4-0 at Georgia – The first of two wins over UGA this year for the Trojans. This one is the more impressive considering it was in Athens and it was a 4-0 sweep. This win showed that the Trojans weren’t going anywhere this year.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Tulsa – An absolute stunner at the time. Tulsa was ranked out of the top 50 and Southern Cal was looking just as dominant as they look every year, so this match was not even on anyone’s radar as interesting let alone as a potential upset. This shocking loss started the downward trend for USC’s season.

Team MVP: Eric Johnson – Was racking up the wins even when Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz hit rough patches and it is important to note that he was not in the line-up on the day the Trojans lost to Tulsa at home.

Grade: B-

Being in the top 10 is an outstanding season for most programs but when you have won 5 out of the last 6 national titles, simply being in the top 10 is not considered an achievement. The Trojans had a couple of head scratching losses this year (Tulsa, Stanford) and looked less than elite in losses vs. Baylor and Oklahoma. However, there is still time for them to capture that postseason magic that they seem to always have.

UCLA

Best Win: 4-1 vs. TCU – The Bruins only win against a top 10 team this year and it stands out as the most impressive win on the season by far.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Florida – Losing to a Gator team that is outside the top 20 currently was a bad way to start the season for UCLA. After dropping a tough match vs. UGA, the Bruins were hoping to gain some redemption against another SEC foe but instead the road trip out east turned into an 0-2 letdown.

Team MVP: Mackenzie McDonald – Has elevated his play this season and taken Macros Giron’s void fairly nicely at the #1 spot. One of the top players in the college game.

Grade: C

A pretty poor season overall by UCLA Bruin standards. Their NCAA quarterfinal streak is in serious jeopardy with their current ranking barely even being in the hosting range. It was always going to be tough to replace Giron and Thompson but UCLA tennis is used to reloading every year with new talent and this year it just has not happened to the same degree.

Cal

Best Win: 4-3 at Stanford – Sweet revenge for the Cal bears to end the regular season. Having suffered a crushing 4-3 loss to Stanford earlier in the year, they delivered a defeat on the Cardinal themselves as Nolan Paige of Stanford was unable to do what Maciek Romanowicz was able to do in the first meeting (rally to win in the 3^rd set in the clinching match).

Worst Loss: 4-2 at San Diego State – This loss set the Bears back quite a bit. It set the Aztecs season in motion but it was nearly just as damaging for Cal. It showed that this year’s team had taken a step back from last year.

Team MVP: Gregory Bayane – Squeaks past Andre Gorannson for this award based on his solid record at #3 singles all year. Even during Cal’s struggles you could count on Bayane to deliver a win and give the team a chance to get the W.

Grade: B-

It is hard to grade Cal’s season. They had some ups and some downs following the departure of Ben McLachlan from a season ago. They had a good returning roster however and some good new talent, a little bit more was expected of the Bears this season.

Oregon

Best Win: 4-1 vs. Washington – Oregon’s season resume is really lacking of quality wins so this one stands alone as the premier win. Convincing score lines on 3 singles courts plus doubles gave the Ducks a fairly straight forward win over their rivals from the state up north.

Worst Loss: 4-3 at Pepperdine – The Waves are a bubble team and Oregon is currently on the outside of the bubble thanks in large part to this match. Had the result been reversed to a 4-3 Ducks win the two teams may be swapped in the rankings and it would be Oregon who would slip into the tournament. Amazing the difference a couple of 3^rd sets can make.

Team MVP: Daan Maasland – Following the departure of Robin Cambier after the 2014 season, Oregon appeared to have a real issue on their hands at the #1 position. But Maasland stepped into the role admirably and even got a few big scalps along the way. His signature win being over Tom Fawcett of Stanford.

Grade: C+

The Ducks will likely miss the NCAA tournament in 2015 barring an upset of Cal in the Pac 12 quarterfinals. The season was about the same as the last few years for Oregon, no real progress was made but at least there were no steps back either.

Washington

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Tulsa – This win is single-handedly keeping Washington in the top 75 as their only other ranked win is over #74 Portland. This win made it appear early that the Huskies may have been ready to do big things in 2015.

Worst Loss: 4-1 at Oregon – This loss was a letdown for Washington. They never really threatened the Ducks and it made the gap between the two teams apparent.

Team MVP: Jake Douglas – The freshman had a hot start to the dual season and was winning matches left and right, he may have tapered off to end the year but was still a big part of any Husky win.

Grade: C-

A 2^nd straight year of disappointment for Washington. While last year could be chalked up as a rebuilding year, 2015 was supposed to be more of a step forward year but instead it turned into another year of struggle for UW. With the fresh talent 2016 will have to be a much better year or Husky tennis is in trouble.

Utah

Best Win: 4-1 vs. New Mexico – The only quality win for Utah all season. This was the only time all year where the Utah team came together and put forth a good effort across the board to get a big win at home.

Worst Loss: 5-2 at Boise State – Boise State was not a good team this year, they had lost a lot of pieces from 2014 and were certainly in a rebuilding phase but that didn’t stop Utah from being beaten by them. This loss was fairly early in the season as well, which put a big damper on the outlook for the rest of the year.

Team MVP: Slim Hamza – Barely played in 2015 and his absence showed big time. With Hamza at #1 Utah is a much better team. There was a time when he had the potential to be a nationally top 40 player, but injury sidetracked this ambition. Without him Utah was a very tepid team.

Grade: D

Very poor season. Utah tennis is not adapting to life in the Pac 12 very well at all despite the conference being relatively down in the last two seasons. In 2015 Utah had no answers and without Hamza any chance of winning competitive matches was lost.

Arizona

Best Win: 4-1 vs. New Mexico – Like Utah, Arizona was able to beat the Lobos. Something about the crew from the ABQ brought out the best in the Pac 12 bottom feeders.

Worst Loss: 4-2 vs. Southern Miss – Arizona has several bad losses but this one takes the cake as being the one truly ghastly loss on the resume. Southern Miss was a middle of the pack CUSA team who did not threaten anybody worth anything all year but were still able to beat this sorry Pac 12 team.

Team MVP: Naoki Takeda – The only Wildcat who played good tennis is 2015. He had a signature 6-2 6-0 dominating win over #10 Dominik Koepfer of Tulane which vaulted him into the rankings. Unfortunately it looks like Takeda will just miss out on the individual tournament barring a plethora of withdrawals.

Grade: F

Nothing good came from the 2015 season. Truly a program in shambles right now. Tucson should be able to host a pretty good college tennis program especially with Arizona State dumping tennis a few years ago, but instead Arizona is struggling (and failing) to remain even remotely relevant in the Pac 12.

SEC

Being the only major conference to have completed their conference tournament already, SEC grades will be coming out later.

Pre-Tournament Men’s College Tennis Rankings: ACC & Big Ten

Posted by Admin on April 21, 2015

Posted in: College Tennis, Jeff McMillan, NCAA. Tagged: 2015, ACC, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 10, Big Ten Conference, Duke, georgia tech, Iowa, men's tennis, michigan, Michigan State, NCAA, Nebraska, North Carolina, Power Rankings, Virginia, Wisconsin. Leave a comment

Pre-Tournament Men’s College Tennis Rankings: ACC & Big Ten
Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

Before the NCAA tournament starts, let’s review what has transpired this past regular season. I will grade each power 5-conference teams’ season on an A to F scale based strictly on what they accomplished in the regular season vs. what was expected of them this year. (Only the SEC has completed their conference tournament out of the Power 5 conferences).
ACC

Virginia

Best Win: 6-1 vs Duke – Convincing score line over the biggest threat to them in the ACC
Worst Loss: 5-2 at Baylor – Yes it was in Waco but losing to the same team for a 2nd time in a matter of just over two weeks was not something you expect to happen to Virginia.
Team MVP: Colin Altamirano
Grade: B+

Having perpetual astronomical expectations makes the grading process a bit tougher on Virginia. 3 losses during the regular season would be considered a mild disappointment for the Cavs. But the team regrouped impressively and ran through ACC play unscathed yet again in convincing fashion. They are one of the teams in America that is capable of winning the national title.

Virginia Tech

Best Win: 6-1 vs. Duke – Playing without Amerigo Contini, the Hokies announced their presence to the college tennis world as a top 15 team by dispatching Duke, sweeping all 6 singles courts after dropping the doubles point. This win catapulted their season forward.
Worst Loss: 5-2 at Wake – The Hokies have no bad losses, this one is selected by default.
Team MVP: Hunter Koontz – only 2 losses all year. Rock in the middle of the lineup
Grade: A+
About the best season possible for Virginia Tech. Nobody expected the Hokies to be as good as they have been this year by having only 3 losses all year and all to good teams. They vastly separated themselves from the middle of the ACC pack where they were expected to be and put themselves into the title contender pack.

Wake Forest

Best Win: 4-3 vs TCU – The won over TCU was Wake’s first big win of the year and assuaged the hurt of losing back-to-back matches vs Texas and Virginia.
Worst Loss: 4-3 at NC State – The one loss to a team outside the top 30 and the loss that holds Wake’s ranking back from being even better than it is now. This loss to a feisty NC State team is what is keeping Wake out of the top 10. Bogaerts and Ho’s inability to win 3rd sets in this match was particularly disappointing.
Team MVP: Noah Rubin – Beat several top players and is the reason why Wake has moved above the 20-30 range where they had been stuck for a few years. He is truly one of college tennis’s top talents.
Grade: A-

A good year was expected from Wake and they matched those expectations, but did not surpass them. Very dangerous team moving forward with Rubin at the top of the deck. Look out for the Deacs come NCAA tournament time.

North Carolina

Best Win: 5-2 vs Duke – Another team with their best win of the season being over Duke. UNC played a great match in their win over their hated rival. Brayden Schnur played impressively in his return from injury that day.
Worst Loss: 5-2 at Louisville – Even without Schnur, a puzzling loss for the Tar Heels. Louisville took it to them in doubles and on 3 of the singles courts to wrap up the upset in fairly quick fashion.
Team MVP: Robert Kelly – The Freshman was a rock for the Tar Heels all season long in the lower part of the lineup and helped the Tar Heels survive the long absence of Schnur.
Grade: B-

A very good year was expected from the Tar Heels and they have been mildly disappointing, not fully meeting those expectations. A lot of that blame goes to Brayden Schnur’s injury however so they are not graded as harshly based on that. With Schnur back, the Heels could be a very dangerous team in May.

Duke

Best Win: 4-3 at Illinois – Winning in Champaign is never easy. And through the year Illinois has proven to be one of the top teams in the nation, so Duke’s early season win their looks mighty impressive now.
Worst Loss: 4-3 at Georgia Tech – Even playing without Alvarez, Duke should beat Georgia tech every time. This loss was a very low note to end the regular season on.
Team MVP: Nicolas Alvarez –No brainer here. One of the best players in the nation already as a freshman. His signature win this year was the 3 set clincher over Noah Rubin to secure the Devils win over the Deacs.
Grade: B

Duke has been solid all year long. Nothing really spectacular but still very good nonetheless. The team has shown depth problems as of late and those will need to be corrected come tournament time. They have lost a bit of steam down the stretch.

Louisville

Best Win: 5-2 vs. North Carolina – The most impressive win by far for the Cardinals this season. Showed their ability to step up to a higher ranked opponent and win.
Worst Loss: 5-2 vs Drake – Tough to choose the 1st match of the season as the worst loss but the Cardinals do not have any glaring poor losses on their resume, so this one falls into the worst category by default.
Team MVP: Sebastian Stiefelmeyer – Bursting onto the scene in the fall with winning the All-American championship in Tulsa, Stiefelmeyer continued to impress this season in dual play and cemented his place as a top 10 player in the nation. His signature win was a close victory over Colin Altamirano.
Grade: A-

Have to give Louisville a high grade based on the consistency of their play all season long. They beat the teams they were supposed to beat while still challenging the teams ranked above them.

Notre Dame

Best Win: 4-3 at Florida State – Wins over Northwestern and Oklahoma State are other candidates but the win over FSU is more critical because it was in conference play and was on the road vs. a FSU team that was on fire at the time. Alex Lawson’s 3rd set breaker win over Jose Gracia sealed the dramatic win in Tallahassee.
Worst Loss: 4-2 vs. Columbia – Columbia is a good team but this loss cost Notre Dame a chance at the indoor nationals in nearby Chicago, losing on their home courts to an underdog Ivy League team has to count as a pretty big disappointment.
Team MVP: Quentin Monaghan – Starting in March, Monaghan gave the ACC another top player after he dismissed ranked opponent after ranked opponent and improved his ranking to #9 in the nation.
Grade: C+

A bit of a drop-off was expected after losing Greg Andrews from last year but there were periods of the year where Notre Dame struggled. Ending the regular season in the lower 30s puts them on the right side of the tournament bubble, but one more loss here or there would have put their tournament chances squarely in jeopardy.

Florida State

Best Win: 5-2 at NC State – Winning in Raleigh in fairly convincing fashion in a match that was supposed to be an absolute toss-up that slightly favored the home team qualifies as FSU’s best win of the season.
Worst Loss: 4-2 vs. Florida – I chose this loss as the worst loss of the season because it left FSU in the same position they have been for a number of years now, playing 2nd fiddle in their own state (3rd fiddle this year with the advent of USF). It was a massive match on ESPN3 and FSU had plenty of chances to win, but once again they failed to beat their archrival, in a match that was very winnable for the Noles.
Team MVP: Michael Rinaldi – His improvement to being a ranked player this season was a big part of FSU’s success.
Grade: B-

Another middle of the road season for FSU as expected. They did not have any signature wins but did not have any terrible losses either. This team did what was expected of them but nothing more. How much longer will stagnation be accepted at FSU?

NC State

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Wake Forest – Massive win for the Wolfpack in a match they were big underdogs in. This win over a highly ranked team is single handedly keeping them in the NCAA tournament-ranking zone.
Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Harvard – This loss to Harvard cost NC State any chance of playing in the national indoor tournament and started their year off on a sour note.
Team MVP: Simon Norenius – One of the most underrated players on the ACC for a long time. Norenius racked up the wins in the lower part of the line-up, being almost a sure point for the Pack each match and while more losses crept into his record as he moved up the line-up he remained a critical player for the Wolfpack.
Grade: C-

NC State was expected to have a better season based on the fact that Austin Powell and Robbie Mudge are seniors and this was their last chance to make a big impact in the ACC, but instead the team took a slight step back rather than steps forward. Next year will be a tough year for NC State

Georgia Tech

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Duke – Finally! The win that Georgia Tech was looking for all season. After several 4-3 heartbreakers, including one to rival and top 5 team Georgia, the Jackets finally secured a big upset in the last match of the regular season. It probably came too late to get an NCAA berth, but still a very nice win.
Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Louisville – This was the match that Georgia Tech desperately needed to keep any chances of the NCAA tournament alive and it was one that they should have won at home.
Team MVP: Christopher Eubanks – The 6’7 freshman had several very good wins during the season and provided a nice punch at the top of the lineup for the Yellow Jackets all season long.
Grade: C+

An improvement from a year ago but still it was a season of almost for Georgia Tech. They almost had a splendid year but instead will more than likely be sitting at home come tournament time again this year. Watch out for the bunch from Atlanta next year though.

Clemson

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Texas Tech – At the time of Alejandro Augusto’s comeback win over Huga Dojas to send the match to doubles where Clemson would eventually win (different format because of the rain at Blue/Gray) this win did not seem that big. But as the season wore on and Texas Tech continued to soar up the rankings, this win got bigger and bigger.
Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. NC State – A lot to chose from here. Could have gone with the tone setting losses to Memphis or Auburn but I went with the loss to NC State because of how close Clemson was to the win at home. Leading the whole match, the Tigers could not finish the deal and the nail was put into the coffin for any NCAA tournament chances after losing to NC State.
Team MVP: Luke Johnson – Ran through the ACC for a few matches, beating all comers. He was the only player on the team who consistently showed up during the entire ACC season.
Grade: D

A very disappointing year for the Tigers. A slight drop-off was expected after the departure of Dom Maden, but looking at the returning roster this was thought to be a bubble tournament team at worst. But instead it is highly likely that Clemson will finish 2015 out of the top 75.

Miami

Best Win: 6-1 vs. George Washington – Yes I’m serious
Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Pepeprdine – This was the tone setting loss for the Hurricanes. Blowing set leads on courts 5 and 6 cost Miami what would have been an important ranked win and maybe could have sent the season in a different direction entirely.
Team MVP: Christian Langmo – Only player on the team that showed decent improvement as the season went on, culminating in a huge win over #4 Ryan Shane of Virginia.
Grade: F

An awful year all around. This was expected to be an improvement year with the addition of Piotr Lomacki. The Hurricanes registered no wins worth anything at all and had a string of several 7-0 losses in ACC play in a row. Miami needs a change ASAP if they want their tennis program to get back on a respectable level.

Boston College does not award men’s tennis scholarships so they cannot be considered in this season recap.

Big Ten

Illinois

Best Win: 4-2 at Texas A&M – Without Farris Gosea, the Illini had just come off a huge in itself over Texas in Austin. With only 1 day of rest the Illini went into College Station and knocked of the upstart Aggies in impressive fashion.
Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Minnesota – A low note to end the regular season on, it was the first “bad” loss that the Illini accumulated all season.
Team MVP: Aleks Vukic – The Freshman lost only 2 dual matches all season long and was a rock in the middle part of the lineup all season. The Illini have had critical contribution from all players but Vukic has been the most solid of them all.
Grade: A

A very good season from Illinois. They have positioned themselves very well for the NCAA tournament and Big Ten Tournament. This is the best team that Illinois has had probably since their national title team of 2003. The NCAA tournament will determine if this season can be bumped up to an A+.

Ohio State

Best Win: 4-3 vs Texas – Even though the Longhorns would get revenge later in the season in Austin, tis win was still a very important one for the Buckeyes and kept them on track for another top 10 season.
Worst Loss: 5-2 at Tulsa – Tulsa had already established themselves as giant killers after their big win over Southern Cal, so Ohio State should have been ready for the challenge of going into Tulsa but instead they left with a 5-2 loss that set their ranking back and the season in general back.
Team MVP: Mikael Torpegaard – The Danish Freshman became a pretty stable part of the top of the lineup as the season went on. His signature win being over Andrew Harris of Oklahoma.
Grade: B-

The 2015 season was a slight step back for Ohio State, but considering the loss of Peter Kobelt from the year before, the step back was not all that unexpected. Who knows what this team could have done if Hugo Di Feo had been cleared to play this year by the NCAA.

Minnesota

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Illinois – A huge win for Minnesota tennis, beating a perennial Big Ten power and boosting themselves into the top 25 and announcing their legitimacy to the otherwise unknowing college tennis world.
Worst Loss: 5-2 at Harvard – After winning doubles, losing 5 of 6 singles courts vs a team that Minnesota should probably beat was disappointing. This loss held back their ranking for much of the season as well and kept people from considering them a legit Big Ten threat.
Team MVP: Matic Spec – His emergence at the #2 spot as the season wore on ended up being the key for Minnesota. He complimented Leandro Toledo’s strong play at #1 by being a very strong #2 giving Minnesota a formidable top 2.
Grade: A-

Minnesota had a great regular season. Before the win over Illinois they were about a B in grading but the massive win over Illinois boosted the season in so many ways, from ranking to national perception and positions them well for the NCAA tournament coming up.

Northwestern

Best Win: 4-3 at Vanderbilt – Early season win that positioned Northwestern for good things in 2015. Strong Kirchheimer’s 3rd set breaker win at #3 sealed the dramatic win in Nashville over a strong SEC team.
Worst Loss: 4-1 at Rice – A loss that came out of nowhere quite frankly. I don’t know if the Wildcats weren’t ready or the underestimated the Owls but this was a bad loss in every way for Northwestern.
Team MVP: Alp Horoz Pips Sam Shropshire for this award because of his overall solidness at the #6 position. Horoz evolved as one of the best #6 players in the Big Ten and had critical wins in several Northwestern’s close wins.
Grade: B

A very solid season for Northwestern overall. A few 4-3 losses kept the season from being anything more but the Northwestern team kept their heads above water and have gave themselves a good chance to do something more in the tournament.

Indiana

Best Win: 4-2 vs. Oregon – This win showed that Indiana was a solid team and was ready for Big Ten play. By knocking off a middle-tier Pac 12 team who had higher ambitions, Indiana boosted their own ambitions.
Worst Loss: 5-2 at Michigan State – Disastrous loss. Perhaps the single most critical loss for any team in the country when it is all said and done. This loss to an unranked and unthreatening Spartan team could very well cost Indiana a spot in the NCAA tournament. It has certainly put them squarely on the bubble when a win could have all but cemented their spot in the NCAA’s.
Team MVP: Sven Lalic – Had a few critical wins that gave Indiana close wins, most notably the win over Penn State. Lalic held down the middle part of the lineup well and bridged the top to the bottom nicely.
Grade: B-

Overall a pretty decent season from Indiana. A definite improvement from 2014. However if the loss to Michigan State costs them a spot in the tournament, the season will look a lot less successful than it looked just last week before the loss.

Penn State

Best Win: 4-1 vs. USF – This win was the crown jewel of Penn State’s glittery early season success. It announced their presence to the college tennis world and led many to believe that big things were coming from Penn State tennis this season.
Worst Loss: 5-2 vs. Penn – While the with over USF was a sparling jewel, the loss to unranked Penn was the ugly smudge that signaled that the upcoming season was going be more complex than it first appeared. Penn State would follow with several other bad losses (to VCU, to UNC-Wilmington and to Michigan State).
Team MVP: Tomas Hanzlik – Remained steady in the middle of the lineup despite the turbulent waters of the Penn State tennis season.
Grade: D

A harsh grade on the surface but this season went south so quickly that it should be graded low. I don’t know if it has ever happened before that a team that qualifies for the Indoor National Tournament in February misses the NCAA tournament in the same season, but the Nittany Lions could do just that. An early season top 20 ranking was flushed down the drain with several bad losses. Barring a few upsets in the Big Ten tournament, Penn State will finish 2015, a season that began with such promise, in extremely disappointing fashion.

Michigan State

Best Win: 5-2 at Indiana – Played the roll of ultimate spoiler in Bloomington. Potentially crashing the Hoosiers NCAA tournament chances in the last match of the regular season.
Worst Loss: 4-3 at Western Michigan – An inexcusable loss to the MAC team from Kalamazoo for the 2nd straight season. This loss torpedoed any chances that Michigan State had to turn their season around starting in Big Ten play.
Team MVP: Gijs Linders – Absorbed many body blows in the season at #1 but despite those losses was able to end the season on a strong note, accumulating a few wins.
Grade: C-

Not having JP Mullane for much of the season hurt the Spartans, but still the team underperformed and did not come close to the NCAA tournament in the end. They did somehow manage to get the #7 seed in the Big Ten tournament and that boosts the grade a bit. Could finish the season outside the top 75.

Iowa

Best Win: 4-2 vs. Wichita State – Only win over a ranked team all season for Iowa. Signaled a potential break through year early on for the Hawkeyes.
Worst Loss: 4-2 at Cornell – This loss blew a chance to get another ranked non-conference win and cost them a chance to position themselves nicely before Big Ten play.
Team MVP: Leftis Theodorou – Accumulated a good record playing at #3 and #2 for Iowa. Was the most likely player for Iowa each match to get a win for the team. A strong season for the freshman, good things to come for him in Iowa City.
Grade: C+

2015 was a step forward for Iowa tennis. Expectations are fairly low for Iowa tennis and having the team in the top 75 for most of the season is an accomplishment. The success wore off as Big Ten play went on, but there are signs of improvement for the program.

Wisconsin

Best Win: 4-3 at Michigan State – Only win over a competitive team all season for Wisconsin.
Worst Loss: 4-1 vs. Wisconsin-Green Bay – No disrespect meant to UWGB, but this should never ever happen.
Team MVP: Josef Dodridge – Actually won a decent amount of matches at #1 in the middle part of the season vs. Big Ten competition, enough to get the honor of team MVP.
Grade: F

A horrible year for Wisconsin tennis. Could not beat any teams with a pulse and lost to some very poor teams. Wisconsin tennis has taken many large steps back in recent seasons, as the other sports in the Badger Athletic Department continue to achieve great success. The Sweet 16 appearance team of Marek Michalicka and Moritz Baumann feels a millennium away at this point.

Nebraska

Best Win: 4-3 at Denver – At the time this was an encouraging win and led some to believe that Nebraska was going to be a decent team in 2015.
Worst Loss: 5-2 at Wisconsin – Only truly bad loss for Nebraska tennis in 2015. Every other loss is to ranked teams and teams that you would expect to beat Nebraska. Losing to the Badger train wreck is inexcusable.
Team MVP: Dusty Boyer – Finished 2015 with an impressive 3 set win over Mikael Toregaard of Ohio State, this added to his already impressive list of wins over Matt Hagan of Iowa and Leonard Stakhovksy of Penn State making him a decent #1 for the Cornhuskers.
Grade: C-

Nebraska did not have many expectations entering 2015 and they did nothing during the season to indicate that there should have been any to begin with. A very ho-hum nondescript season for Nebraska tennis, it did not reach terrible depths but it also was not very successful.

Michigan

Best Win: 6-1 vs. Memphis – A shocking display of tennis from Michigan. The one match of the season where the Wolverines played good tennis on all courts and swept aside a Memphis team that will probably be participating in the NCAA tournament.
Worst Loss: 4-0 at Nebraska – Getting swept by a subpar Cornhusker team was the first real indication that not only was this Michigan team a big step back from previous Michigan teams but also that they were simply a bad tennis team (all losses before this had been to decently ranked teams).
Team MVP: Runhao Hua – The Freshman from Shanghai had by far the best year of any Michigan Wolverine. He provided a winning record at the #3 slot and was the only player that other teams scouted for when facing Michigan this season. Hua will be the foundation of the next few years for the rebuilding of Michigan tennis.
Grade: C–

A tough year was expected for Michigan in 2015 so it is impossible to give them too low of a grade despite the horrendous overall record (only had 6 wins all year). There were few positive signs but with coach Adam Steinberg at the helm you have to believe that things in Ann Arbor are going to get sunnier soon. The night is always darkest before the dawn and it’s hard to imagine a darker year of Michigan tennis than 2015.

Purdue

Best Win: 6-1 over IUPUI – This was a tough one. The other options were wins over Dayton, Eastern Illinois and Morehead State….
Worst Loss: 5-2 at DePaul – A very poor loss for any team that is in a power 5 conference.
Team MVP: Diego Acosta – His win over Aron Hiltzik alone gives him team MVP.
Grade: F

After having a breakthrough year in 2014 by making the NCAA tournament, Purdue fell to abysmal depths in 2015. They were the worst team out of all power 5-conference teams who give men’s tennis scholarships. There were guys playing at the lower parts of the lineup who should not be on any D1 team let alone on a Big Ten team. Will there be any answers for next year? What happened ion 2015?

Check back in the next few days for the grading recap of the Big 12, Pac 12 and the SEC.

Jeff McMillan (Clemson)

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