NCAA Champs USC, Duke No. 1 in final Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings

NCAA Champs USC, Duke No. 1 in final Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings

SKILLMAN, N.J. - The NCAA Champions USC men and Duke women finish the 2009 season at No. 1 in the final Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings released today.
 
Men of Troy March to 17th: The USC men recorded one last upset win on their march through the 2009 NCAA Championship with a 4-1 victory over Ohio State to claim the Trojans’ 17th NCAA team title. USC finished the 2009 season with a 25-5 overall record -- the same mark it hit in 2002 when it won its last national championship, on the same George P. Mitchell Tennis Center courts as seven years prior. The 2009 NCAA Championship is the first for USC head coach Peter Smith, who had tallied his 400th career victory in the Southern California’s quarterfinal upset of No. 1 Virginia, who was previously unbeaten entering the match. The title match against the Buckeyes was also Smith’s first visit to the NCAA final. Now with 17 NCAA team titles all-time, USC is tied with Stanford for the most men’s tennis national championships pulling even with the Cardinal in the title count for the first time since 1997 when Stanford won its 15th championship.
 
Duke’s Blue Heaven: Duke University seniors Melissa Mang and Jessi Robinson earned singles victories within minutes of each other to lead the Blue Devils to a 4-0 sweep of California in the NCAA Women’s Tennis National Championship match. Duke captured its first national title in women’s tennis and 10th overall national trophy in school history. Just moments after Robinson put Duke up 3-0, Mang turned in a forehand winner to end the match and give Duke its first national title. Mang closed out her season with a 35-7 record and was a winner in all four of her NCAA Tournament matches. Her 35 wins is a career-best as she closes out her career with 106 singles wins. Duke turned in its 18th consecutive win and 29th victory of the season in the title match. The third-seeded Blue Devils’ 29 wins is the second most in program history, while its 18-match win streak to close out the year also ranks second.

Follow the Leader: On the women's side, Duke is followed by (in order): Northwestern, Georgia, California, Notre Dame, Baylor, Miami (FL), USC, Georgia Tech, USC and Tennessee.  For the men, following USC is: Ohio State, Virginia, Mississippi, UCLA, Georgia, Baylor, Tennessee, Texas and Stanford.
 
Conference Count: Men's Top 25: SEC – 7; ACC – 5; Big 12 and Pac-10 – 4; Big Ten – 2; Big East, WAC and WCC - 1. Five different conferences placed at least one team in the top 10, with the SEC claiming four of the top 10 spots and the Pac-10 with three. Women’s Top 25: SEC – 9; ACC – 6; Pac-10 – 4; Big Ten – 2; Big 12, Big East, Conference USA and WAC – 1.  Six different conferences placed at least one team in the top 10, with the ACC and Pac-10 each claiming three of the top 10 spots.
 
Twice as Nice: Twelve schools have both their men’s and women’s programs ranked inside this week’s top 25.

Singled Out: The singles and doubles competition began play at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas, on May 20, following the conclusion of the team championships and will conclude on May 25.

Men’s Round of 16:
(1) Arnau Brugues (Tulsa) - Omar Altmann (Pepperdine)
(6) John-Patrick Smith (Tennessee) - Sanam Singh (Virginia)
Jay Weinacker (North Carolina State) - (9-16) Steven Moneke (Ohio State)
(5) Bruno Agostinelli (Kentucky) - (9-16) Steve Johnson (Southern California)
Devin Britton (Mississippi) – Bruno Rosa (Rice)
(9-16) Nate Schnugg (Georgia) – Alex Clayton (Stanford)
(9-16) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) - Dean Jackson (San Diego)
(2) Oleksandr Nedovyesov (Oklahoma State) - (9-16) Blake Strode (Arkansas)

Women’s Round of 16:
(1) Maria Mosolova (Northwestern) - Reka Zsilinszka (Duke)
(8) Chelsey Gullickson (Georgia) - (9-16) Jana Juricova (California)
Laura Vallverdu (Miami) – Megan Falcon (LSU)
(7) Hilary Barte (Stanford) – Marritt Boonstra (Florida)
Bianca Eichkorn (Miami) - (5) Mallory Cecil (Duke)|9-16) Josipa Bek (Clemson) - (3) Aurelija Miseviciute (Arkansas)
Laura Gioia (Furman) - Sanaz Marand (North Carolina)
Ellah Nze (Duke) - (2) Julia Cohen (Miami)