After picking up a pair of wins at the inaugural ITA Kick-Off Weekend, Ohio State and Northwestern remain No. 1 in ITA's Collegiate Tennis Rankings

After picking up a pair of wins at the inaugural ITA Kick-Off Weekend,
 Ohio State and Northwestern remain No. 1 in ITA's Collegiate Tennis Rankings

Still the One: After picking up a pair of wins at the inaugural ITA Kick-Off Weekend, the Ohio State men and Northwestern women remain No. 1 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rankings for the third consecutive week. The Wildcats (2-0) served as one of 15 women’s host sites for the Kick-Off Weekend, sweeping the competition with wins over #46 New Mexico and #34 Tulsa. The Buckeyes (5-0) also served as a host site for the event and advanced with victories over #64 Stetson and #30 Virginia Tech. Both Ohio State and Northwestern received all eight first-place votes from the ITA National Rankings Committees.

Rounding Out the Top 10: On the women's side, Northwestern is followed by (in order): California, UCLA, Baylor, Stanford, Georgia, Florida, Georgia Tech, Duke and USC. For the men, following Ohio State is: Texas, Georgia, UCLA, Virginia, USC, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi and Baylor. It should be noted that the top ten did not change in both the men’s and women’s rankings.

Conference Count: Men's Top 25: SEC – 6; ACC – 5; Big 12 and Pac-10 - 4; Big Ten - 3; Big East, Conference USA and WCC - 1. The SEC also had the most teams ranked in the top 10 with four (Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi). Women's Top 25: SEC - 8; ACC and Pac-10 – 5; Big Ten – 2; Big 12, Big East, Colonial, Mountain West and WAC – 1. While the SEC had more teams in the top 25 the Pac-10 had four of five teams ranked in the top 10 (California, UCLA, Stanford and USC).

On the Move: On the women's side, the top 11 teams all remained the same. Auburn jumped into the Top 25 by moving up one notch while William & Mary returned after a one-week hiatus, climbing from No. 27 to No. 24. Florida State dropped from the rankings moving from No. 20 to No. 26 while Texas fell 12 spots from No. 16 to No. 28 after losing both Kick-Off Weekend matches. There was plenty of movement in the men's rankings as Notre Dame soared seven spots from No. 32 to No. 25 while Wake Forest also gained some ground by climbing from No. 27 to No. 21. A couple of Texas teams were removed from the rankings as No. 26 Texas Tech and No. 27 Rice just missed the cut as they fell six and 10 spots, respectively.

Set to Go to Chicago: The field has been set for the 35th annual ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships which will be hosted by the University of Illinois at the Midtown Tennis Club in Chicago, February 13-16. Of the fifteen No.1 seeds that participated in the inaugural Kick-Off Weekend, 14 have advanced with an opportunity to capture the elusive National Team Indoor title. Baylor, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio State, Pepperdine, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Tulsa, UCLA, USC and defending champion Virginia will all make their way to Chicago next week.

The Spin on Wisconsin: The 22nd ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin at the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, February 13-16. In addition to the host Badgers and defending champion Georgia Tech, this year’s 16-team field includes: Baylor, California, Clemson, Duke, Florida, Fresno State, Georgia, Miami, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Southern California, Stanford and UCLA. On the women’s side, 12 of 15 No.1 seeds from the Kick-Off Weekend have advanced to the National Team Indoors for a chance to capture the crown.

Next ITA Rankings: The next weekly team rankings will be released on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Singles and doubles rankings are published every other week starting Feb. 19. These rankings reflect results through Tuesday, Jan. 27. The rankings are administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the governing body of collegiate tennis. The official ITA web site is www.itatennis.com.

Men’s Team Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
February 3, 2009
Rank School LW(1/29/09)
1 Ohio State University 1
2 Univ. of Texas at Austin 2
3 University of Georgia 3
4 UCLA 4
5 University of Virginia 5
6 Univ. of Southern California 6
7 University of Florida 7
8 University of Tennessee, Knoxville 8
9 Univ. of Mississippi 9
10 Baylor University 10
11 Stanford University 11
12 Univ. of Tulsa 12
13 University of Illinois 13
14 University of Michigan 14
15 Texas A&M University 15
16 Louisiana State University 16
17 Florida State University 18
18 Oklahoma State University 21
19 University of Alabama 24
20 Pepperdine 23
21 Wake Forest University 27
22 North Carolina 19
23 Univ. of Miami (Florida) 22
24 California 25
25 Univ. of Notre Dame 32

Women’s Team Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
February 3, 2009

Rank School L/W (1/29)
1 Northwestern University 1
2 California 2
3 UCLA 3
4 Baylor University 4
5 Stanford 5
6 Univ. of Georgia 6
7 University of Florida 7
8 Georgia Tech 8
9 Duke University 9
10 Univ. of Southern California 10
11 Clemson University 11
12 Fresno State 15
13 Univ. of Miami (Florida) 13
14 Univ. of Notre Dame 17
15 Vanderbilt University 12
16 Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville 14
17 North Carolina 18
18 University of Michigan 19
19 Arizona State University 21
20 Univ. of Kentucky 22
21 TCU 25
22 University of Tennessee 23
23 Louisiana State University 24
24 College of William and Mary 27
25 Auburn University 26

Complete rankings can be found at www.ITAtennis.com.

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