Amherst, UC-Santa Cruz Top Division III Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings
NCAA DIII Champs, Finalists Top Men’s and Women’s Spring Rankings

SKILLMAN, N.J. – Recently crowned ITA National Division III Men’s Team Indoor Champions, UC-Santa Cruz, and the top-ranked Amherst women, held onto their No. 1 fall preseason rankings. Both programs are looking forward to returning to the NCAA Division III Championship match this May.

Amherst has yet to begin their spring slate but beating No. 3 Williams, 6-3 in the fall, in what was a rematch of the 2009 NCAA Division III Championship, was enough to hold off the Emory Eagles, who slide in second after having just captured the ITA National Division III Women’s Team Indoor title last weekend with a 6-3 victory over fourth-ranked University of Chicago.

Even though the defending NCAA and ITA Team Indoor champs, UC-Santa Cruz, do not play indoors very often, they have shown the ability to play as good indoors as anyone in the country winning their third event title in their seventh finals appearance. The seven finals appearances are the most of any school in the history of the event. This was also the fifth time in the past six years UCSC has made it to the finals advancing four straight years from 2005 through 2008.

Follow the Leader:For the men, following UC-Santa Cruz is (in order): Washington U., Emory, Middlebury, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Kenyon, Williams, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and Amherst. On the women's side, Amherst is followed by: Emory, Williams, Chicago, Denison, Washington & Lee, Pomona-Pitzer, DePauw, Gustavus Adolphus and Redlands.

Conference Count: Men's Top 25: NESCAC– 5; SCIAC and UAA – 4; SCAC – 2; American Southwest, Centennial, Independent, Liberty, MIAA, MIAC, NCAC, Northwest, ODAC, SCAC, and USA SAC - 1. Women’s Top 25: NESCAC– 5; UAA – 4; Liberty, SCAC and SCIAC – 2; Capital, CCIW, Centennial, IIAC, Independent, NCAC, NJAC, ODAC and WIAC – 1.

Twice as Nice: An astounding 16 schools have both their men’s and women’s programs ranked inside this week’s top 25 led by Armstrong Atlantic with both squads ranked No. 1.

Mark Your Calendar: This year's NCAA Division III Championships feature the final eight men’s and eight women’s teams facing off May 25-30 in Oberlin, Ohio, hosted by Oberlin College and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.

Next Up:The next Division III ranking period will be published March 16, including the Regional and National team, singles and doubles rankings. These rankings reflect results through Tuesday, February 28.