Burdette, Frank, Buchanan/Rola Top First Campbell/ITA Rankings of 2012
Mallory Burdette photo by David Kenas
SKILLMAN, N.J. -- On Tuesday, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association released the first Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings of 2012, revealing the Top 125 singles players, Top 60 doubles pairs and Top 75 teams in NCAA Division I men's and women's tennis. For the complete lists, click here for the men's rankings and click here for the women's rankings.
Stanford junior Mallory Burdette came away the biggest winner, securing the top spot in both the women's singles and women's doubles national rankings.
After capturing the USTA/ITA National Summer Championships title, Burdette broke out this fall with a series of strong singles victories. The right-hander from Jackson, Ga., earned five fall wins over Top 15 players, defeating No. 4 Joanna Mather of Florida, No. 10 Denise Dy of Washington (twice), No. 12 Kristi Boxx of Ole Miss and No. 14 Diana Nakic of Baylor.
Not far behind Burdette in the singles rankings is No. 2 Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia, a former NCAA singles champion who defeated three Florida Gators -- Mather, Sofie Oyen and Lauren Embree -- back-to-back-to-back to win the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Championships.
One Gator Gullickson did not defeat this fall was No. 3 Allie Will, who won the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in her lone appearance of the season. Will's teammate Mather is No. 4 following her dramatic run to the final of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, during which she avenged her Regional loss to Gullickson.
Two players from the Northwest Region are tied at No. 5 in the Campbell/ITA women's singles rankings: reigning NCAA singles champion Jana Juricova of
Juricova leads a talented Golden Bears' squad that features six players inside the Top 85.
Schools with 5+ players in Top 125 women's singles rankings
School Players
California (5) Juricova, (21) Susanyi, (32) Davis,
(64) Estlander, (74) Schutting, (81) Goransson
Duke (7) Capra, (35) Turewicz, (38) Mar,
(66) Clayton, (97) Mulholland, (118) Kahan
(76) Fuccillo, (85) Tomljanovic, (89) Peretz
Florida (3) Will, (4) Mather, (25) Embree,
(34) Oyen, (41) Cercone
UCLA (8)
(83) Dolehide, (112) Ray
Two weeks before they faced off in the Regional final, Gibbs and Burdette teamed to capture the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships doubles title. Along the way, they defeated the second-ranked team of Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist (
As in singles, Gullickson comes in at No. 2, playing alongside Gilchrist. The Bulldogs finished the fall with a 10-1 record, dropping only the All-American semifinal to Gibbs and Burdette. At No. 3 are USC sophomore Kaitlyn Christian and freshman Sabrina Santamaria, who made good on their at-large selection by winning the title at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
Rounding out the Top 5 Campbell/ITA women's doubles rankings are Kristi Boxx and Abby Guthrie of Ole Miss and Kristy Frilling and Shannon Mathews of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish duo delivered Gibbs and Burdette their only loss of the season in the semifinals of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
There were no changes among the women's teams that finished in the Top 5 of the 2010-11 Campbell/ITA year-end rankings, with 2011 NCAA champion Florida, 2011 NCAA runner-up Stanford, Duke, North Carolina and UCLA appearing in that order. Miami (FL) fell from No. 7 to No. 11 in the nation, opening the door for another ACC school,
Also improving on their year-end rankings are USC (No. 19 to No. 16),
Schools with biggest moves in Top 75 women's team rankings
School 5/30/10 Rank 1/3/11 Rank Move
TCU No. 59 No. 51 +8
NC State No. 27 No. 34 -7
UT
Cal Poly No. 44 No. 39 -5
In the men's team rankings,
As expected, reigning NCAA champion USC and runner-up Virginia hold down the top two spots, while Mississippi State (No. 20 to No. 16), Oklahoma (No. 22 to No. 18) and Ole Miss (No. 28 to No. 24) each moved up four positions.
A staggering seven schools are represented in the Top 10 of both the Campbell/ITA men's and women's team rankings.
Schools in Top 10 men's and women's team rankings
School Men's Rank Women's Rank
Baylor No. 5 No. 6
Stanford No. 6 No. 2
UCLA No. 9 No. 5
Duke No. 10 No. 3
Having finished the fall with titles at the ITA All-American and USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, Mitchell Frank of Virginia and Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola of Ohio State are No. 1 in the Campbell/ITA men's singles and doubles national rankings respectively.
Frank, a highly touted freshman with impressive junior results, defeated No. 3 Wil Spencer and four other seniors en route to the ITA All-American title in
In a memorable three-set final, Frank knocked off No. 2 Dennis Nevolo of
Few players, if any, were as active this fall as the third-ranked Spencer, who went 17-2. Besides reaching the ITA All-American final, the Georgia senior won the Southern Intercollegiate Championships on his home court in Athens and captured the consolation title at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
At No. 4 in the men's singles rankings is Costin Paval of
Quigley is one of six ranked Wildcats, while Paval heads a Sooner squad that features five players inside the Top 65.
Schools with 5+ players in Top 125 men's singles rankings
School Players
(85) Jha, (95) Jomby, (111) Gomez
(53) Alcorta, (63) Webb
USC (12) Sarmiento, (16) Nguyen, (33) Hanfmann,
(48) Gomez, (124) Grant
While each pair in the Top 5 of the Campbell/ITA men's doubles rankings posted impressive results this fall, no duo matched the dominance of
Joining those teams in the Top 5 are Florida's Billy Federhofer and Nassim Slilam, who upset King and Spir in the quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
Besides a win over Federhofer and Slilam, the only thing missing for Buchanan and Rola this fall was a title at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships. That's because Buckeyes' Head Coach Ty Tucker paired his stars with different players. Buchanan and Peter Kobelt defeated Rola and Connor Smith in the final.
Coincidentally, the men's and women's doubles champions from the Northeast Region each jumped to No. 11 after not appearing in September's preseason rankings. Princeton's Matt Siow and Matt Spindler backed up their Regional title by winning the consolation draw at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, while Boston College's Alex Kelleher and Olga Khmylev defeated the fourth-ranked Boxx and Guthrie to reach the quarterfinals in Flushing.
Several talented players expected to compete during the spring are unranked because of inactivity during the fall, including Bradley Klahn of Stanford and defending NCAA singles champion Steve Johnson of USC. Marta Lesniak of SMU, winner of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, graduated in December and will not be returning for the spring season according to Mustangs' Coach Cosmin Cotet.
In addition to the national rankings, Top 20 singles and Top 10 doubles rankings are available for each of the 12 regions on ITAtennis.com.
Mitchell Frank photo by Gene Boyers
