North Carolina, Oklahoma No. 1 in ITA National Team Rankings

North Carolina, Oklahoma No. 1 in ITA National Team Rankings

Tar Heels No. 1 for sixth straight week

ITA Division I Men's Rankings | ITA Division I Women's Rankings

SKILLMAN, NJ (March 17) - The North Carolina women and Oklahoma men, both champions of the 2015 ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships, maintained their No. 1 spots in the ITA Division I National Team Rankings this week.

On the women's side, North Carolina kept the No. 1 ranking for the sixth straight edition dating back to February 10. The Tar Heels went 2-0 on an ACC road trip to Notre Dame and Louisville this week, and the stability atop the rankings is mirrored again by a Top 10 reshuffling behind North Carolina. The Florida Gators are back to No. 2 after a one-week layoff after posting a 2-0 road record against conference foes, defeating Arkansas and Missouri.

California leapt from No. 9 to No. 3 after taking down No. 16 Pepperdine in Malibu and No. 67 San Diego State on the road as well. Coming in at No. 4 are the Georgia Bulldogs, a former No. 2 this season who beat No. 12 Vanderbilt and No. 20 Kentucky this week. The fifth-ranked team this week is UCLA, who fell from No. 2 behind the strength of Florida's, California's and Georgia's wins. The Bruins beat Washington State on the road this week.

No. 6 Baylor beat two conference rivals on the road to continue the trend of the week. The Bears took down No. 11 Oklahoma State and No. 29 Oklahoma to start 2-0 in Big 12 play. USC fell from No. 4 to No. 7 and picked up a win at Washington State.

No. 8 Virginia and No. 10 Stanford did not play this week, while No. 9 Alabama fell three spots after splitting their Magnolia State swing. The Crimson Tide toppled No. 17 Mississippi on Friday but fell to Mississippi State in Starkville on Sunday, with the upset helping to propel the Bulldogs from No. 41 to No. 27 this week.

On the men's side, Illinois took advantage of a trip to Texas by registering 4-2 wins over Top 10 foes Texas and Texas A&M to garner the No. 2 ranking. TCU's upset of Illinois on Monday will count toward next week's rankings, as it came after Sunday's results deadline for weekly rankings.     

Tulsa upset a second Top 10 opponent this season on Sunday in a 5-2 win over No. 10 Ohio State to surge into the Top 25 for the first time this season at No. 20. The Golden Hurricane moved to 12-7 and also picked up a 4-1 win over Michigan.

New to the Top 25 this week is LSU at No. 23. The 13-3 Tigers posted two wins on Sunday to improve 12-0 at W.T. "Dub" Robinson Tennis Stadium in 2015. The first triumph of the day was a 4-1 win over No. 11 Vanderbilt, in which the Tigers' 18th-ranked duo of Jordan Daigle and Boris Arias posted a win over the top-ranked Vanderbilt pairing of Gonzales Austin and Rhys Johnson. After claiming the doubles point, LSU won straight-set matches at Nos. 3-5 singles to emerge victorious.

Also piling up wins on the men's side is SMU, which recorded its first two ranked wins of the season. The 15-2 Mustangs started the season outside the Top 75 but have moved all the way up to No. 34 in the ITA Division I National Men's Team Rankings. Unlike SMU, UNC-Wilmington started the season safely in the Top 75 at No. 50, but has been in and out throughout the season. A pair of Top 50 wins over No. 25 Drake and No. 48 Penn State slingshotted the Seahawks all the way to No. 49 this week.

Conference Count: 

Men's Top 25: SEC - 6; ACC and Big 12 - 5; Big Ten - 4; Pac-12 and AAC - 2; Ivy - 1. 

Women's Top 25: SEC - 6; ACC and Pac-12 - 5; Big 12 - 4; Big Ten - 2; Ivy, MVC and WCC - 1. 

Coming Up Next: The ITA Division I National Team Rankings will continue on March 24, along with new ITA Division I National Men's and Women's Singles and Doubles Rankings. Complete ITA College Tennis Rankings can be found here.